BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri predicted Monday the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, saying this would give the Lebanese an opportunity to build their own state free of the pressure which Syria used to exert when it dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades.
In an interview with Future TV on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, his father, Hariri said the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon would continue its work and no one would be able to stop it. He called on the four Hezbollah members indicted in the case to turn themselves over to the STL.
“The international tribunal will continue [down] its path and no one will be able to stop it,” Hariri said.
Referring to the four men who were accused by the STL last year of involvement in the massive suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14, 2005, he said: “They are accused and they have the right to defend themselves. We have repeatedly asked them to surrender themselves so they can get a fair trial.”
“People should know that whoever commits crimes such as the assassination of Rafik Hariri or the martyrs of the ‘Cedar Revolution’ will be punished,” he said.
“I advise the accused to surrender themselves because justice will be served,” Hariri added.
“[Accusing someone] from a particular sect does not mean that the whole sect is accused,” Hariri said, adding: “Whoever killed Rafik Hariri has benefited politically.”
Speaking from Paris where he is recovering from surgery after suffering multiple fractures in his leg during a skiing accident in the French Alps, Hariri said the Syrian regime would be changed as a result of widening protests that have engulfed most Syrian cities over the past 11 months.
“The regime will be changed ... and the Syrian people have struggled for that and have been killed for that cause,” Hariri said. He added that a regime change in Syria would give the Lebanese an opportunity to build their own state, reconcile with Syria, establish genuine relations with Damascus and implement the Taif Accord.
“We will have a real chance to reconcile with the Syrian people ... we were in conflict in the past because of that regime,” he added.
Hariri criticized the government’s policy to dissociate Lebanon from Arab League and U.N. decisions condemning the violent crackdown on Syrian protesters demanding Assad’s ouster.
“There is Arab consensus today regarding events in Syria but we are disassociating ourselves to the point that now we are rejecting that consensus,” Hariri said.
“Syria’s allies in Lebanon need to know that the people are more important than the regime ... They also need to know that when Lebanese families escaped from Lebanon, the Syrian people took them in and housed them,” he added. “Distancing Lebanon is not what I would do. That is [Prime Minister] Najib Mikati’s position,” he said. “No one can stand aside given what is happening in Syria.”
“There have been several defectors and these people are defending the Syrian people [against the government],” he added. “The Syrian case is about principles and I upheld that principle against Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and today in Syria.”
Hariri said the bloodshed in Lebanon’s neighbor had exceeded that of other Arab countries.
Hariri warned that Russia’s support for Assad would not serve Moscow’s interests in the long run.
Regarding Russia’s recent veto at the United Nations Security Council of an Arab and Western-backed resolution that called on Assad to hand over power, Hariri said: “There is an Arab consensus regarding Syria and Russia should recognize this. Russia has taken the side of the Syrian regime.”
“Russia will be in an unpleasant position and the results of its support to the Syrian regime will not serve its [Russia’s] interests,” he added.
He also said that for national dialogue sessions to resume, the issue of non-state weapons, namely Hezbollah’s, should be the sole item on the agenda of discussions as it was at the root of Lebanon’s problems and needed “a fundamental solution.”
“Dialogue should only discuss one principal issue: that is of [Hezbollah’s] weapons given that there is division on this matter and the case of [Hezbollah’s arms] has nothing to do with the Shiite sect,” Hariri said.
“We agreed in the last round of national dialogue on many issues, including disarmament of Palestinian camps, but nothing has been done,” he added. “We want a serious dialogue for the interests of the Lebanese, in the south, north and Beirut. We are not against dialogue and we were not the ones who rejected dialogue.”
Hariri also said that his party, the Future Movement, was looking after thousands of Syrian refugees in north Lebanon who had fled from unrest in their home country, and denied that the Syrian opposition had bases in Lebanon, describing such allegations as “lies.” “The problem in Syria is about freedom from this regime,” Hariri said. “It is in the interest of those who are losing in Syria to promote sectarian rhetoric.”
Asked about recent violence in the northern city of Tripoli, Hariri said the unrest had been instigated. “I tell our people in Tripoli: If there is support for the Syrian revolution, do not give anyone the opportunity to force Lebanon into developments in Syria and divert attention away from what is happening in Syria,” he said.
He advised Tripoli residents not to lose sight of the purpose of supporting Syrians who are calling for reforms.
Hariri said he would return to Lebanon soon, adding that a recent skiing accident had delayed his return and refused to tie his return to Beirut to developments in Syria. “My return is not tied to the fall of the Syrian regime,” he said.
“If I hadn’t had this accident, I would have been back in Beirut. I vow and promise everyone that I will be back soon,” Hariri said, adding that there have always been threats against his life. “Whoever killed Rafik Hariri can also kill Saad Hariri,” he said. “I have not chosen political exile: I will come back very soon, God willing.” – With additional reporting by Thomas El-Basha and Dana Khraiche