UK/FILE: Lebanese politician Saad Hariri expresses hope for Obama inspired peace in the Middle East

Record ID: 784957

  • Title: UK/FILE: Lebanese politician Saad Hariri expresses hope for Obama inspired peace in the Middle East
  • Date: 27th March 2009
  • Summary: MEN LIFTING BODY AWAY ON STRETCHER
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3LYWT024V6PP153JF2E8OHUAQ
  • Story Text: U.S. President Barack Obama's vision for the Middle East and his engagement with allies and enemies alike show goodwill and may eventually lead to peace in the region, Saad al-Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon, said on Tuesday (March 24).
    Hariri said in an interview that Obama's overture to Iran and reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Syria, which he blames for killing his father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, were good for Lebanon.
    "President Obama has a lot of goodwill in the region. If he has 100 days (of honeymoon) in the U.S. I think he will have 200 days in the region," he said.
    "The president has inspired a lot of people and the way his administration has been doing business in the region, by calling and engaging allies, by sending Senator (George) Mitchell, by engaging to understand the region better, even their engagement with Syria, all of this is positive."
    "I think if he continues this way and is serious about peace then we will have peace in the region," Hariri said.
    Hariri assumed political power in Lebanon after his father's assassination in a suicide truck bombing on Feb. 14, 2005, Hariri and his allies have consistently blamed Syria for involvement in the bomb attack.
    "Imagine Lebanon without a tribunal, it would be like an open season for assassinations. Imagine Lebanon without a commission which investigated all these crimes, imagine all of that. Today Lebanon has a tribunal, it is the end of an era of impunity in Lebanon."
    "I don't know anything about the investigation, I don't know anything about what the commission is doing, and I don't know what the general prosecutor has, but what I know is that I have full confidence in the tribunal, its work and what its doing, and I will accept any decision that the tribunal will come out with," he added.
    Hariri and 22 others died in the bombing. The killing sparked a worldwide outcry that forced Syria to end a 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
    Investigators have yet to indict any suspects but the inquiry has implicated high-level Syrian and Lebanese security services officers in the assassination, which was followed by a series of political murders.
    Hariri said Saudi Arabia mended ties with Syria to restore Arab unity and ease tensions in the region ahead of serious challenges, including the coming to power of a right-wing Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, that many in the region fear would hamper peace efforts with the Arabs.
    "What's most important is the Arab unification. If we unify and we know what we want as Arabs, then we will become 10 times stronger," he said.
    Rivalry between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which has backed Hariri's March 14 alliance, has been one of the factors behind a political crisis that spilled into armed conflict last May.
    U.N. investigators have said a likely motive for the assassination was Hariri's support for a 2004 U.N. resolution demanding that Syrian and other foreign troops quit Lebanon.
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