by naharnet.com — Saudi newspaper Okaz slammed Thursday former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, criticizing his “Iranian-like beard” and accusing him of “political Shiitization.” “By urging the Sunnis to boycott the parliamentary elections, Saad has done a great favor to the killers of his father. He left the elections arena to terrorist Hizbullah and to the Free Patriotic Movement at the expense of his country and his sect,” Okaz said. The daily added that “Saad today is not the same young man whose tears were wiped by Saudi Arabia after the assassination of his father in February 2005, seeing as Saad has allied with the FPM and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.” Okaz said that Hariri must bring Lebanon back to its Arab identity, instead of “subordinating” it to Iran. “This is your historic chance, and maybe you do not deserve it. Choose your country first and your sect second,” Okaz addressed Hariri.

by thearabweekly.com — As banners of the “Future Movement”, in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, continue to call for the boycott of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Lebanese political analysts are voicing dismay at the implications of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s call on Sunni voters to stay away from the country’s legislative elections, scheduled for May 15. The analysts emphasise that by doing so, Hariri in fact puts himself on the side of Hezbollah and Iran, whose interests would be served by a low Sunni turnout. The boycott call, they point out, is for now confusing and dividing the Sunni community. Many Sunni voices are however challenging it.

Lebanese political activists say they find it strange for Hariri to talk about “Iranian hegemony” as if it is a recent occurrence, when all the Lebanese know that he himself had contributed to the consolidation of Hezbollah’s hold on power. This he did by taking part in a weak government whose main task was to offer political cover for the ruling alliance between Hezbollah and the President Michel Aoun. In that sense, Hariri has only himself to blame for Hezbollah’s unchallenged rise to hegemony. Experts are also intrigued by the lack of any “Plan B” offered by Hariri to Lebanese Sunni voters as he calls on them to shun the elections. They believe the best chance for Sunni and Christian forces to alter the lopsided equation in Lebanon is to enter the election fray and try to defeat Hezbollah or at least clip its wings. The May 15 elections for parliament are the first since Lebanon’s economic meltdown began in late 2019. The government’s factions have done virtually nothing to address the collapse, leaving Lebanese to fend for themselves as they plunge into poverty, without electricity, medicine, garbage collection or any other semblance of normal life.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri talks to his supporters on the 17th anniversary of his father’s assassination in Beirut, Lebanon, February 14, 2022. (AP) Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri talks to his supporters on the 17th anniversary of his father’s assassination in Beirut, Lebanon, February 14, 2022. (AP) The elections are also the first since August 4, 2020, catastrophic explosion at Beirut port that killed more than 215 people and wrecked large parts of the city. In the May 15 election, a total of 103 lists with 1,044 candidates are vying for the 128-seat legislature, which is equally divided between Christians and Muslims. On Tuesday, in some of the streets of Beirut and its suburbs, banners supporting the “Future Movement” and its leader, Saad Hariri, called for the boycott of the parliamentary vote. Analysts add that Hariri may be trying to draw attention to himself, especially since the Saudis have kept silent about his role. Riyadh also voiced support for an active and effective participation by Sunnis in order to guarantee the community a substantial margin of influence in parliament or in government formation consultations.

The former prime minister, they note, has so far eschewed talking about Saudi Arabia’s decision to ignore him since his failure to face up to the designs of Hezbollah and Iran and offer a political counterweight to their encroaching role. Keeping the Sunnis on the margin of Lebanese politics would only penalise them for Hariris’s personal setbacks; they add. Last January, he announced the suspension of his political activity and his decision not to participate in the May elections. At the time, Hariri said that “there are no positive prospects for Lebanon in light of Iran’s influence, international confusion, national division, sectarianism and pressures within the state.” According to official figures, the Sunnis represent the largest number of voters in Lebanon (1,081,520 million), followed by Shia, the Maronites and then other sects. On Monday, the Grand Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Derian, warned of the danger of boycotting the vote, saying such a move would squander “an opportunity available to achieve change.”

An electoral campaign sign that reads ” A state of law” ahead of the parliamentary election is pictured near the Beirut silos damaged in the August 2020 port blast, in Beirut. (Reuters) An electoral campaign sign that reads ” A state of law” ahead of the parliamentary election is pictured near the Beirut silos damaged in the August 2020 port blast, in Beirut. (Reuters) In his Eid al-Fitr sermon, the Sunni sheikh said that “refusing to participate in the elections is the easiest way for bad and corrupt people to come to power,” noting that “the parliamentary elections are an opportunity for us to ensure change. So let it be a change for the better … through active participation”. He pointed out that the Lebanese today are able to “rebuild their country anew and to restore the crumbling institutions of their state, based on their choice of members of parliament, that being the gateway to coveted reform.” Derian called on the Sunni community to be “focused on national change and national rescue, rather than on a rush towards emigration, even if the price is to be swallowed by the raging waves of the sea.”

Experts say that the “March 8 forces” (the allies of Iran and the Syrian regime) are showing greater cohesion than the alliances of “the March 14 forces” (which are close to Riyadh and Washington). Recently, many questions have been raised about the reasons for the decline of the political role of the Sunnis amid the state of confusion and division prevailing within the community, in contrast to the growing role of Iran through its ally, Hezbollah. These developments coincided with the breakdown in relations between Beirut and Riyadh from late last October after disparaging statements about the Saudi role in Yemen war were made by former information minister George Kordahi, which led him later to resign. After an absence of more than five months when the crisis erupted, the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen have returned to Beirut in early April.