Hariri mends fences with March 14 allies
Joseph A. Kechichian,/Gulf News/February 16/16
Beirut: A day after his return to Beirut on Sunday morning Sa’ad Hariri devoted his time to reconciliation initiatives, though senior Saudi officials advised him to apologise to the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader, Samir Geagea, for dropping the latter’s candidacy in favour of Marada Movement chief, Sulaiman Franjieh.
On Monday night, Hariri went to Ma‘arab, Geagea’s residence, for dinner. Although both men skirted the controversy, Geagea apparently praised Hariri for his February 14 speech that commemorated the 11th anniversary of his father’s assassination in 2005. “Your presence among us resolves the country’s issues,” the LF chief told Hariri, according to the MTV television network, which broadcast a joint press conference when the two men answered several questions from reporters.
In an unscripted moment that highlighted his foresight, Hariri took credit for the January 18, 2016 reconciliation between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement, when the Future Bloc leader hit out at Geagea, wishing that the latter’s rapprochement with Michel Aoun had occurred a long time ago. Journalists quizzed the two men about what occurred, though Geagea insisted that there was no need for an apology, even if the tenacious accord was a work in progress.
LF supporters were infuriated by the theatrics, though Geagea stressed that he did not consider the former prime minister’s statement a personal insult. Both confirmed their readiness to go to parliament and elect a head-of-state, even if they supported competing candidates. Hariri stood by Franjieh while Geagea backed Aoun. Both Hariri and Geagea said that the intransigence was in the March 8 camp for refusing to attend any session that did not guarantee Aoun’s election, though no one acknowledged that Hezbollah feared the swing votes held by the Progressive Socialist Party and how surprise manoeuvres would throw a monkey wrench in the proceedings to prevent the election of the opposition’s preferred candidate.
Be that as it may, Hariri now seems to favour the Phalange Party instead of the LF, but his primary goal is to put order in the moribund March 14 alliance that has lost much of its lustre, especially after Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, a former Internal Security Forces official who wished to apply the law, distinguished himself within the Sunni community. The leader of the Future Movement confronted sustained opposition from within his own ranks, as many were unhappy with his policy choices, which might explain why he planned to stay in town for a little while. Chances were excellent that he would attend the 36th session of parliament to elect a president, now scheduled for March 2, ahead of any celebrations that might occur on March 14.
For his part, Hassan Nasrallah declared victory a few days ago when he opined that Hezbollah had won the presidency because both Aoun and Franjieh were March 8 nominees, but he refused to take a risk and send his alliance to parliament because any election that did not go according to Hezbollah’s plans would postpone the desired constitutional convention that remained, then as now, the party’s only objective.
Few believed that Hezbollah was ready to see the process through as everyone awaited Nasrallah’s address on Tuesday during a ceremony to honour “martyred leaders”. The expectation was for Nasrallah to snap back at Hariri and, as is customary, warn against the dangers of a Saudi-Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war.