Lebanon names Beirut street after Saudi King Salman
Move is a testament to Lebanon’s Arab character, says Hariri ahead of May polls
“This is a clear message that the Arabism of Lebanon overcomes all other loyalties.” These were the words of Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri on Tuesday at an official ceremony naming a major street in the Lebanese capital after King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz.
The Iran- backed Hezbollah group was noticeably absent from the event given, of course, its fierce anti- Saudi positions.
At the event, Hariri issued a veiled message to Hezbollah without naming them directly: “Between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, there is an unbreakable history, no matter how hard they try.”
Attending the event were Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Al Boukhari and a royal envoy from Riyadh, Nizar Al Aloula.
Ziad Chebib, the governor of Beirut, said: “By naming a street on the Mediterranean, this is a message to the world that Beirut is committed to its Arab character, as it has been throughout its modern history.”
There was no official statement from Hezbollah but the pro- Hezbollah daily Al Akhbar claimed that the ceremony was “insulting” to Lebanon.
Observers see the move as part of a larger election campaign by March 14 to win back support of Sunnis disaffected by Hariri’s policies
Symbol of Arabism
In response, prominent Druze leader Walid Junblatt, responded via Twitter, saying that the ceremony in Beirut is a symbol of Lebanon’s Arabism — as opposed to being a proxy for Iran.
Junblatt, a backer of former Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser, the face of Arab nationalism, recalled how King Salman, then a young prince of 21, had volunteered to serve in the Egyptian Army during the Suez Canal War of 1956.
The King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Street lies on the seaside, across from a posh neighbourhood called Minet Al Hosn on the famous Zeitouna Bay waterfront.
Posh restaurants and hotels are scattered across the area, including the Four Seasons and the St Georges.
In 2005, the Beirut Municipality named a street after the late King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.
Some names stick in the conscience of Beirutis, like that of Protestant Reverend Daniel Bliss, founder of the American University of Beirut ( AUB) whose “Bliss Street” is a hallmark of the Lebanese capital.
Others have not, like “Paris Boulevard” which is universally known as “Al Manara.”
Observers see the move as part of a larger election campaign by the March 14 coalition to win back support of Sunnis disaffected by Hariri’s policies.
Parliamentary polls are set to be held in May.
They say the renaming of the street was primarily targeting Ashraf Rifi — a former minister and cabinet official who defected from Hariri’s team and is now challenging him in Tripoli.
Rifi, a one- time pillar of the anti- Syrian March 14 Coalition, was also visibly absent from the street naming ceremony.
Last week, Saudi Ambassador Boukhari and his UAE counterpart Hamad Al Shamis paid a visit to Hezbollah- majority Baalbak in the Bekka Valley, where they were guests of its mufti, Khalid Salah.
The two diplomats met with community leaders and Hussain Solh, the Hariri parliamentary candidate for Baalbak.
Hezbollah saw the visit as trespassing on its geographic fiefdom and responded days later with a military parade in the same city.