Word: hariri
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...assassination with a show of people power so massive that it not only inspired advocates of democracy in the Middle East but eventually scared away the Syrian forces that had occupied and controlled the country for two decades. The Lebanese politician whose death conjured up the demonstrations was Rafic Hariri, the billionaire former Prime Minister, who had engineered the country's economic renaissance after a ferocious and debilitating civil war. Lebanon appeared poised to join the ranks of modern, democratizing states. Then the current war started. Rafic Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, found himself outside of Lebanon when...
...Hariri: Israel has launched a major attack pinpointing infrastructure like bridges, highways, airports. The worst part is the number of deaths. There are certain areas where the Red Cross cannot reach because Israel cut off the roads and bombs every truck. There are a half million displaced people, creating a huge humanitarian problem. To look at Lebanon as it was 12 days ago and how Lebanon is today, it is a living nightmare...
...Hariri: Very sad and very angry. Lebanon shouldn't pay the price. Maybe the kidnapping [of the two Israeli soldiers by Hizballah] was wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. Israel is crippling Lebanon, taking it back 10, 15 years. Israel has no right to do this. No right. You don't bomb a whole country, punish a whole population of 4 million people [for Hizballah's actions...
...Hariri: Part of it. The economy was growing at 5% to 6%. Lebanon is a moderate democracy in this part of the world, but it is fought by everyone, by Israel and by [Arab] neighbors. Now it is being destroyed by a war we never wanted. The government was clear that it had no idea about the kidnapping. The next thing, we see one of the most massive attacks in Israeli history, with atrocities involving children, women...
...Hariri: We never expected that even Hizballah would do such an action. We opened a national dialogue [of all Lebanese factions] trying to discuss and find a way of resolving this issue. We wanted to convince Hizballah that the only way is to build a strong central government to defend Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hizballah decided to do this operation. I was completely shocked. Things were moving in the right direction. We were supposed to have another session [of the national dialogue] in two days. We all know, they know, the world knows, that the core problem of this issue...