Hariri Sees Parallels With Lebanon's Sectarian Challenges.

Parliamentary majority and Sunni leader MP Sa'd Hariri on July 29 said Lebanon and Iraq suffered "from almost the same problems" and faced similar challenges. In an interview to assess his recent visit to Iraq, Hariri told Future News TV: "Lebanon and Iraq suffer from sectarian divisions rather than political ones". He said Lebanon and Iraq were "subject to restless attempts to jeopardise Arab unity", adding: "These attempts are of a political rather than religious nature but use the sectarian factor to expedite the rift among Arabs. However, the Iraqis and the Lebanese have come to the conclusion that it is vital to preserve and consolidate national rather than sectarian interests".

Hariri met PM Maliki and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, where he praised recent security gains in the country. He then went to Najaf and met with Grand Ayatullah 'Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shi'ite religious authority in Iraq, and with SIIC leaders including 'Ammar al-Hakim. His visits to Baghdad and Najaf were of special significance to moderate Sunnis and Shi'ites for four reasons:

(1) Hariri, the son of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri who was assassinated in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005, also holds the Saudi nationality; and as such his visit was taken as a message from Riyadh that it was ready to mend bridges with Baghdad.

(2) The Saudi leadership to which Hariri is close is countering the Iran-led axis (which includes the 'Alawite/Ba'thist regime of Syria) in that, whereas Riyadh is seeking to defuse Sunni-Shi'ite tensions, Tehran is fuelling the sectarian divide in its attempt to control the GME (see news5-GCC&IranWealthWastngJuly28-08).

(3) Riyadh is firmly behind a UN-led tribunal set up to try the killers of Hariri and other Lebanese VIPs, with Syria's regime said to be implicated.

(4) Hariri leads the largest segment of Lebanon's Sunni community, which was attacked and humiliated by Iran's offshoot Hizbullah in bloody battles on May 7-8. Being part of Iran's ruling Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hizbullah continues to provoke Lebanon's Sunnis in intermittent clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between a Syria-backed 'Alawite militia and pro-Hariri forces. Hizbullah has given ample signals that it intends to apply Iran's Wilayat ul-Faqih (WuF) concept of rule in Lebanon's Muslim parts - allegedly as a first step towards controlling the whole of Lebanon. But even in Lebanon, as well as in Iraq, most people are opposed to the WuF concept. It is said that Hizbullah was trying to convert Sadr's Jaysh al-Mahdi (JaM) militia into a similar branch of the IRGC to apply the WuF system in Iraq - a project opposed by Sistani and the Hakims (see news6Iran'sWuF-Aug4-08).

Few senior Lebanese officials have visited Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. On July 29 Hariri said: "People in our two countries have come to the conclusion that the well-being and prosperity of Lebanon and Iraq should come first". After his meetings with Sistani and Hakim earlier in July, Hariri said: "Lebanon and Iraq are both Arab countries and Sunnis and Shi'ites in both countries are first and foremost Arab", adding: "Our countries should not be arenas for Sunni-Shi'ite strife".

Hariri told Future News TV: "It was really inconceivable that I visit Iraq without visiting the holy city of Najaf (where he was warmly received); otherwise my visit would not have been complete". Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, is one of the holiest cities of Shi'ite Islam and the centre of Shi'ite political power in Iraq. It is a major pilgrimage destination, as it is the site of the tomb of the founder of Shi'ite Islam, Imam 'Ali ibn-abi-Taleb. Hariri visited that shrine and on July 29 warned against "foreign powers who work on stirring up tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the Arab world" - a veiled reference to Iran. He said Lebanese and Iraqis "should put an end to any interference in their internal affairs", stressing: "Sunni-Shi'ite unity in Lebanon and Iraq will immunise both our countries against vicious attempts to instigate strife and obstruct any form of foreign interference in our affairs".

Hariri heads the Future Movement, one of the largest political groups, in Lebanon. He also heads a multi-billion-dollar business empire built up in Saudi Arabia by his father since the late 1960s. His visit to Baghdad coincided with an Iraqi push for more foreign investment to help rebuild the country and provide jobs. It is said that the Hariri group of companies intends to invest heavily in Iraq.