Beirut: Lebanese elites gathered for the first time in three years for a large-scale military parade to celebrate the country’s 73rd Independence Day.
The official ceremony, staged along the Shafiq Al Wazzan Boulevard in Downtown Beirut near the harbour, assembled the newly elected President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, caretaker Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri. Most former officials were present too, casting a rare photo opportunity to display political unity as soldiers paraded, helicopters flew overhead, and small naval ships manoeuvred nearby in the Mediterranean.
Notwithstanding this projected image of unity, several challenges faced the country and its leadership, including strenuous efforts to form a new cabinet amid sustained wrangling over the distribution of ministerial portfolios.
On Monday evening, local television stations broadcast a taped message from President Aoun, who called for “immunising independence”. He noted that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were able to defend Lebanon’s borders, though he also telegraphed the news that serious disputes lingered.
“We must immunise independence through refraining from seeking help from foreign forces ... to achieve partisan interests at the expense of public interest,” said Aoun in his address.
The military parade displayed mostly American donated weapons, including never-before-seen communications capabilities that presumably allowed the LAF to know who was infiltrating in and out of the country.
In what was a veiled reference to Hezbollah, Aoun noted that “we have brothers who live in border regions in the North and the South and they represent Lebanon’s first protection shield,” adding, “We must give them special care in order to develop their towns and villages.”
The head of state praised the LAF for “gaining citizens’ confidence and being their source of security and serenity”, though he did not address Hezbollah’s controversial recent claims that it too had an army that paraded on November 11 in Qusayr, Syria and send unmistakable messages to the newly elected head of state even if the latter was its ally.
Aoun hammered that whenever “dangers threaten the country, the army remains its security valve and the firm core of its national unity”, but devoted most of his celebratory remarks to seek the liberation of civil servants from the culture of corruption.
It was unclear why Aoun focused on corruption as his principal topic in his address as a statesman. He may have intended to send a message to all merchant-politicians that different principles would henceforth be introduced to eliminate or, at the very least, significantly reduce the rampant practice across all levels, though this was impossible to know. By stressing that corruption required quick attention, nevertheless, Aoun raised expectations that he planned to rekindle trust among the Lebanese.
