Thousands gather in Beirut to mark 20th anniversary of Rafic Hariri’s assassination

His son, former prime minister Saad Hariri, returns to Lebanon for commemoration event

Thousands gathered in the centre of Beirut on Friday to mark the 20-year anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.

His killing sparked a wave of demonstrations across Lebanon and the withdrawal of occupying Syrian forces in 2005.

The country is once again facing a critical moment, as Lebanese hope for a better future under a new President and government. Hezbollah is also diminished after its war with Israel and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

The Iran-backed group and the Assad regime were both suspected of involvement in the assassination of Mr Hariri, along with other Lebanese figures in the following years.

Neither new President Joseph Aoun or Prime Minister Nawaf Salam were the favoured candidates of Hezbollah.

The commemoration of Mr Hariri's death has also been marked by the return to Lebanon of his son, former prime minister Saad Hariri. He withdrew from front-line politics in 2022.

Supporters of the Future Movement, the Sunni-led political party founded by Rafic Hariri, travelled from across the country to see Saad.

The commemoration event took place amid intense security, with commando units surrounding Mr Hariri's burial site. Figures from across Lebanon's political class attended to pay their respects.

“I think the Lebanese will always remember Rafic Hariri, who worked hard and sacrificed his life for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon,” Fouad Siniora, a former prime minister who succeeded Rafic Hariri as leader of the Future Movement, told The National.

He added that “everything we are seeing now ... is proving that what he did was on the right track".

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  Saad Hariri gave a speech at the commemoration in Beirut. Reuters

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  Family members of the late former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri pray, during events to mark his assassination. Reuters

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  Thousands in Beirut marked 20 years since Mr Hariri's assassination, with seismic political changes under way that have weakened Hezbollah and its backers. Reuters

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  People fill the streets and wave Lebanese flags and the blue flag of Hariri's Future Movement. Reuters

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  Children hold balloons as people gather in Beirut. Reuters

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  Mr Hariri and 22 others, including a suspected suicide bomber, died in a car bomb blast on Beirut's waterfront on February 14, 2005. AFP

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  Hundreds of Lebanese gather in downtown Beirut. AFP

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  Mr Hariri's killing sparked a wave of demonstrations across Lebanon and the withdrawal of occupying Syrian forces in 2005. AFP

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  The commemoration of Mr Hariri's death has also been marked by the return to Lebanon of his son, former prime minister Saad Hariri. Reuters

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  The commemoration event took place amid intense security, with commando units surrounding Mr Hariri's burial site. Reuters

Saad Hariri resigned as prime minister after nationwide protests in 2019 demanding the overhaul of Lebanon's political class. In 2022, he announced he had suspended his political activities and those of his party, blaming "Iranian influence" among other reasons.

On Friday, his supporters in central Beirut shouted his name and waved the flags of Lebanon and the Future Movement.

"After 20 years of sectarian rule, arrest and brutality, the heroic Syrian people expelled the [Assad regime] from Syria," Mr Hariri told the crowd.

He added that solving Lebanon's economic crisis, one of the worst in modern history, was the responsibility of all. "Today there is a golden opportunity ... we have a president of the republic and a new government," he said.