Report: Efforts Seek to Mend Hariri-Rifi Ties

Endeavors to ease the strained relations between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi have surfaced lately, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Friday.

The daily said that efforts have “focused on a reconciliation between the two men in a bid to re-embrace the northern city of Tripoli (of a Sunni majority) back under al-Mustaqbal Movement on the anniversary of slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri," Saad's father.

Relations between al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Hariri and Rifi, once-close allies, have been strained since February 2016 over a number of issues that led to Rifi's resignation from the cabinet.

The resigned minister has especially criticized Hariri's decision to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency.

In one of his statements, Rifi claimed that Hariri has lost his influence among the Sunni community, noting that “Saad Hariri is finished and the Sunnis are awaiting a new Hariri.”

Boasting about his own rising influence in the Sunni community, Rifi had said: “I am strong in Tripoli and my influence is spreading to Akkar in which I will have candidates (in the parliamentary elections). I also have presence now western and central Bekaa and I'm rivaling Hariri in Beirut's third electoral district.”

Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a huge explosion in Beirut that destroyed his motorcade on February 14, 2005. He was killed together with a score of other people including innocent bystanders.

His memory is annually commemorated.