Lebanese tribunal offers future direction
Launching a special tribunal to look into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri aids national reconciliation, his son wrote.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon convened at the beginning of March. Officials defined the rules of procedure and appointed top officials Wednesday for the tribunal examining those behind the February 2005 assassination.
Saad Rafik Hariri, who leads the Future Movement Party in the pro-Western March 14 coalition, writes in The Independent that the tribunal is part of a growing period for Lebanon, which is emerging from decades of civil war and years of Syrian dominance.
"With all the turbulence that Lebanon endured, I am hopeful that the worst is behind us," he wrote. "My optimism stems from the resilience of the Lebanese, their ability to withstand very difficult conditions and their stubborn attachment to their independence."
He praised developments in Lebanon following a series of political assassinations in the wake of the 2005 bombing that killed his father and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country.
"As a result, troops are now positioned along our borders in southern Lebanon, and for the first time in 30 years, the Lebanese army deployed in the south," he wrote.
He added that the upcoming June parliamentary elections will set the stage for the future political and sovereign development in order "to preserve the Lebanon we believe in."