Hariri For Confronting “Black Scheme” by Syria, Iran
Al-Mustaqbal Movement Leader Saad Hariri vowed Thursday to confront a “black scheme” aimed at placing Lebanon under the dominance of Syria and Iran.
Hariri, addressing a packed news conference at his Beirut residence, stressed that “if confrontation is our destiny, we are for it. It is our national responsibility, but it is our national duty to confront this black scheme.”
“This is what we, and the majority of the Lebanese People, would do without any hesitation,” Hariri pledged.
Lebanon, according to Hariri, is going through “a direct and open confrontation with the joint Syrian-Iranian agenda and its local tools that attempt to control Lebanon anew.”
He urged the March 14 masses and the Lebanese people at large to take part in a mass rally scheduled for next Wednesday on the third anniversary of the 2005 crime of his father, ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
On Feb. 14 we would cry out against the return of Syria”s regime to control Lebanon”s decision,” Hariri said.
“We will reaffirm that the path of the international tribunal would not stop … it would progress towards the set goal … and the criminals, whoever they are, would one day be behind its bars,” he added.
Hariri stressed that the road to the presidential palace “goes through Beirut, through Lebanon”s parliament, and does not go through Damascus or Tehran or any other capital.”
For this, Hariri said, “we are ready to head to parliament on Monday to elect Gen. Michel Suleiman president and proceed immediately into forming a national unity government assigned with the task of preparing a new election law based on the county constituency.”
He said Lebanon was facing “a veiled political, security and terrorist presence of the Syrian and Iranian regimes in Lebanon.”
“We have no option but to stay put … to prevent the downfall of Lebanon to the trap of the Syrian and Iranian regimes,” he added.
“We”ve stood fast in the face of pure money … spent on spreading chaos, instigating feud … and creating false leaders,” he said.
“We stood fast … and they did not manage to turn Lebanon”s independent national decision to the Syrian regime and its agents,” he added.
He recalled that even the Lebanese army is “being doubted and targeted … some officers are being blamed for bypassing red lines marking the area of influence of a certain party.
“Is there a red line or a blue line in some areas that the army is not allowed to cross?” he asked.
“We also don”t know if there is a state within the state that sets conditions for the army deployment on Lebanese territories,” he added.
“I am concerned that in the future any officer would not be accepted as army commander or director of a security agency if he was not loyal to the Baath Party or the Iranian revolutionary Guards, while he is required to be loyal to Lebanon only,” Hariri said.
He concluded by saying: “Salvation is close, God willing, and the state of Lebanon would emerge victorious.”