BEIRUT: Future Movement Secretary General Ahmad Hariri visited Thursday an impoverished neighborhood in the northern city of Tripoli where he met with residents and inspected recent renovations to areas affected by the fierce clashes between the Army and Islamist militants.
Hariri’s visit to Bab al-Tabbaneh in Lebanon's second city aimed to look into projects to be funded through a $20 million grant pledged by his brother, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to areas damaged by the October clashes.
The Lebanese government had also pledged $20 million to the area.
"The goal of my visit is to communicate with the residents and listen to their demands. I want them to tell us what pains them and listen to them directly and not through a mediator,” Hariri said on a two-day visit.
“Let us work together with them to lift deprivation from Bab al-Tabbaneh and other areas.”
In October, soldiers came under attack from militants stationed in Bab al-Tabbaneh, sparking four days of clashes in the Tripoli which spread to other areas of the north. The clashes heavily damaged residential buildings and markets and forced many families to flee their homes.
Bab al-Tabbaneh had also engaged in heavy Syria-related clashes with the neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen over the last three years. But a security plan launched in June halted the routine rounds of fighting.
“I commend the wisdom and the conscience of Bab al-Tabbaneh residents. Despite media campaigns improperly portraying the area as a safe haven for terrorism, the reality was that Bab al-Tabbaneh residents were the ones who offered sacrifices for Tripoli and Lebanon as a whole,” Hariri said.
“They suffered through years of violent rounds of clashes and they were the people of moderation and we are proud of them.”
He also spoke about the case of detainees from Tripoli who residents claim were randomly rounded up by the Army following the clashes, saying the judiciary was looking into each case separately and would do its best to release them.
Hariri first visited the Hara al-Barraneye in Tripoli where the residents warmly welcomed the official and then moved to Qibbeh where residents organized a small festival.
He also met with some local officials in the city, assuring them that the Future Movement was not in competition with other politicians over Tripoli.
Hariri said Tripoli residents had always adopted the ideology of his late father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and that they deserved more than the party could offer.
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