Tens of thousands of supporters of Lebanon's majority "March 14" camp flocked into downtown Beirut on Sunday for a rally marking the fifth anniversary of the slaying of former premier Rafiq Hariri.
"We are here for Rafiq Hariri and all the other Lebanese who were assassinated," said Souraya Saleh, a mother of two from Naameh, south of the capital.
"Hariri was our father, the father of all the Lebanese. We owe this city to him," she told AFP.
Hariri was our father, the father of all the Lebanese. We owe this city to him
Hariri's assassination in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 saw the rise of a U.S.- and Saudi-backed alliance that became known as March 14, named after a day of massive anti-Syrian protests dubbed the "Cedar Revolution."
Two election wins
Combined with international pressure, the protests in the weeks after the killing led to the pullout of Syrian troops from the small Mediterranean country in April 2005 following a 29-year deployment.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the five-time ex-premier murdered on Valentine's Day along with 22 other people, now leads the alliance and a unity government which includes the Syrian-backed former opposition.
Hariri's alliance has two parliamentary election wins under its belt.
But it was dealt a major blow when Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, once the most vociferous critic of Syria, defected in 2009 to move closer to the rival Hezbollah-led camp backed by Damascus and Tehran.
A visit to Damascus
We certainly made mistakes, but we owe it to the people who are here today to keep going
Damascus has also since last year broken out of its international isolation, enjoying warmer ties with both Washington and Riyadh, Hariri's main backers.
Hariri's own visit to Damascus in December and the softening of his stance against Syria, whom he had openly accused of his father's murder, have been viewed as signs that the March 14 movement was losing steam.
But in a television interview late on Friday, Hariri said that "only death" could separate him from his allies.
Some supporters of Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party were at the rally waving their party's red flag on Sunday.
"We came here although our party did not announce its participation," said Bilal Abi Rafeh from the eastern area of Rashaya. "Walid Jumblatt has his opinion, and we respect that. But we have ours too," he told AFP.
Some demonstrators chanted anti-Jumblatt slogans, while others stuck to traditional pro-Hariri lines, carrying Lebanese flags and banners which read: "For those we have lost."
Former MP Elias Atallah, a leader of the March 14 movement, told AFP: "We certainly made mistakes, but we owe it to the people who are here today to keep going.
"There are still a number of aims we have not fulfilled, namely limiting arms in Lebanon to the army, creating stable, sovereign state institutions and seeing the (Hariri) tribunal through."
March 14 has repeatedly locked horns with Hezbollah over its arms, calling for the Shiite party to hand them in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution.
On Friday, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said the world body remains committed to legal efforts to uncover the truth about the Hariri assassination of five years ago.
An international tribunal based in The Hague was set up by a U.N. Security Council resolution in 2007 to try suspects in the murder.
A U.N. commission of inquiry initially said it had found evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services but there are no suspects in custody. Damascus has denied any involvement.
U.S. President Barack Obama assured the younger Hariri in a telephone call this week that he strongly supports bringing to justice the killers of his father, according to the White House.
Comments »