Hariri Hails Jumblat Ties as Mustaqbal Stresses Loyalty to Rafik Hariri

Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Tuesday that al-Mustaqbal Movement “will continue the journey with Democratic Gathering chief MP Walid Jumblat,” describing the relation with him as “historic.”

“It started with Rafik Hariri and, God wiling, Saad Hariri will carry on with it along with Walid Beik and my brother Taimur (Jumblat),” Hariri told a Mustaqbal delegation that came from the Chouf area of Iqlim al-Kharroub.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc meanwhile reiterated its “adherence to the approach and policies” of Rafik Hariri and “the rest of the martyrs of the Independence Uprising.”

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc also expressed its continued support for the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon “in order to unveil the truth, fulfill justice and put an end to impunity from prosecution.”

Noting that slain PM Rafik Hariri had worked for “Lebanon's independence, Arab identity, freedom, full sovereignty over its land, national unity, civil peace and unique Muslim-Christian coexistence formula,” Mustaqbal underlined its support for his son, Saad Hariri, as he moves to defend “Lebanon's freedom, independence, sovereignty, Arab identity, economic and social rise” and to “confront Israeli attacks and threats.”

Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive suicide truck bombing on February 14, 2005. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is trying four Hizbullah suspects in absentia over the crime.