BEIRUT – On the 20th anniversary of the heinous assassination of his father Rafik Hariri and three years after remaining outside politics, Saad Hariri appeared from the same place that he appeared for the first time 20 years ago.

In Feb. 2005, the young man who was grieving the loss of his father was not knowledgeable enough in the muzzy maze of Lebanese politics; by capitalizing on his experiences, he has now reemerged seriously to lead the Sunni public and is approaching his fellow compatriots.

Upon Hariri’s instructions, Martyrs Square in the center of Beirut was overcrowded with his supporters who waved the national flag without the Future Movement’s flag, the largest Sunni movement.

“I will remain with you. Everything will be fine in its time,” he said, hinting at his intention to contest the municipal elections scheduled for May 2025 and the parliamentary elections in May 2026.

“I bow before all the martyrs from our people in the South, the Bekaa, Beirut, the [southern] suburb and all the regions,” Hariri said, describing the recent US-backed Israeli war on Lebanon as “crazy and criminal” targeting “our country”. 

He said, “It killed our people. It destroyed their homes, institutions, crops and society.”

Hariri’s rational speech has foiled the relentless efforts to put Sunnis and Shiites against each other; he also praised his popular base’s solidarity with the displaced as they confirmed – in action and not in words – that “Lebanon is one and the Lebanese are one body.” 

During the recent September-October Israeli war on Lebanon, the mainstream Arab media refused to say how those Sunnis welcomed the displaced Shiites in their own homes. Instead, they repeated the claim driven by Israel’s secretive cyber warfare unit 8200 that Hezbollah was involved in the assassination of his Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. 

Further, Hariri pointed to the responsibility of rebuilding the destroyed areas. “This is everyone’s responsibility, just as it is their responsibility to solve the economic crisis and restore development in all regions. Today, after electing a new president and a prime minister, we have a golden opportunity,” he stressed.

Hariri addressed his “partner”, i.e. the Shiite duo, without explicitly naming it, saying: “You are partners in this opportunity, and without you it cannot be achieved.”

“You are partners in opening bridges of relations with our Arab brothers and partners in reconstruction. Most importantly, you are strong partners in restoring the prestige of the state, which alone, with its army, security forces and institutions, protects all Lebanese,” he maintained.

Saad Hariri, who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020, added, “We are with the state and our national army. We support every effort they make to impose the implementation of the ceasefire and Resolution 1701 in full, with the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from all the villages it still occupies.”

Besides, Hariri announced his support for the choices of the Syrian people and his rejection of the settlement of Palestinian refugees.

Since Hariri’s absence, the active role of the Sunni component has declined in favor of rogues selected and oriented by the US embassy in Beirut and suspicious NGOs funded by George Soros.

Those have neither a popular base nor a comprehensive national discourse that is keen on Lebanon’s sovereignty, which contributed to the dispersion of the Sunnis as reflected during the formation of the current government, as Nawaf Salam was imposed from the outside and does not represent the Sunnis’ national agenda.

Relentlessly, those pro-US renegades have spared no efforts to pave the way for the decentralization of Sunni leadership, i.e. separating the premiership from the leadership of the Sunni component.

It is worth noting that 3 out of 27 Sunni MPs are affiliated with the Shiite duo. The rest are distributed among the National Consensus Bloc, headed by MP Faisal Karami, and the National Moderation Bloc, which was absent from the new government for the first time since the 1990s.

Hariri’s national speech reconfirmed that there is no victor or vanquished in Lebanon, but rather a crucible with diverse identities that requires concessions, cooperation, and thwarting the Israeli conspiracy threatening the people and the state.

Amid the sensitive situation that Lebanon is going through, activating the moderate Sunni presence is an urgent Lebanese need, given Hariri’s extensive relations both regionally and internationally.