Hariri pledges $20M to areas damaged by militant clashes

Oct. 31, 2014

BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Thursday pledged $20 million to areas damaged by the recent clashes in north Lebanon.

“Nothing can compensate the good people of Tripoli and the north for the losses inflicted on innocent youths, children and women, leading to serious casualties among them” Hariri said in a statement. The donation will especially target reconstruction in the embattled Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood in Tripoli as well the Minyeh village of Bhenin.

The head of the Future Movement expressed gratitude to the residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Tripoli’s old souks for refusing to become tools in in the hands of extremists battling the Army, saying the stand adopted by residents of north Lebanon was the factor that ended the clashes.

This national stance obstructed the attempts of unnamed parties who sought to incite strife in north Lebanon in an attempt to justify their participation in the Syrian war, he said in allusion to Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Army restored total control of Tripoli and other parts of north Lebanon earlier this week after four days of clashes with Islamist militants.

Hariri said he decided to appoint a team of engineers and specialists from the Future Movement to prepare studies to swiftly carry out the repairs.