BEIRUT: Future Movement chief Saad Hariri said the principles of the “Cedar Revolution,” which forced the Syrian Army to pull out from Lebanon ten years ago, are entrenched in the national consciousness and vowed that the event will remain a landmark in the country’s history.
“We tell allies and friends who have stood fast in the face of storms and threats, from outside and from inside, that we will remain committed to the revolution of independence,” the former prime minister said in a statement issued on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the massive anti-Syrian regime rally.
“The 14th of March (2005) was not just any date in the life of the Lebanese, but it is a landmark that will remain engraved in the history of Lebanon and in the mind of the people who had stood up for their freedom, sovereignty and national pride,” Hariri said.
Addressing Hezbollah, which organized a rally on March 8, 2005 to thank Syria for its “support” of Lebanon, Hariri said, “the days of solidarity with [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s regime are over, vanished, and buried under the ashes of history.”
“We tell those who stood on the opposite side of March 14, that supporting oppressors is not the proper way to combat terrorism, and drawing Lebanon into neighboring civil wars is the easiest way to destroy the Lebanese people’s coexistence and lives,” Hariri said.
He vowed that March 14 followers will not be intimidated by Hezbollah’s Iranian-supplied weapons, and “will not accept to be part of the Iranian empire.”
The March 14 rally, held in response to a pro-Syrian demonstration on March 8, was the climax in a month-long series of rallies that followed the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, in a massive truck bomb explosion on February 14, 2005.
The March 14 coalition was named after that rally, which saw over a million Lebanese coming for all parts of Lebanon flock to Downtown Beirut to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops after Damascus was accused of the assassination.
March 14 will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Cedar Revolution in an event Saturday.
During the ceremony, the coalition will announce a set of political principles outlining the coalition’s new agenda and declare the formation of a March 14 National Council in an attempt to re-emphasize its multi-sectarian nature amid rising extremism in the region
Comprising approximately 300 party officials and independent March 14 figures, the National Council (NC) will be governed by an elected body.
Lacking any executive authority, the NC will be a consultative body and meet every two or three months to make recommendations.
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