According to the publication Lebanon Debate, Bahaa Hariri – half brother of Saad Hariri (former Prime Minister of Lebanon) – had a secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [1].
Bahaa Hariri [to the right in the photo] is the eldest son of the former Prime Minister of Lebanon (Rafic Hariri). Yet it was his brother Saad (who is the illegitimate son of a Saudi Prince) who stepped into the shoes of the former Prime Minister who was assassinated. Throughout the external aggression against Syria, Bahaa Hariri was careful not to make charges against the Syrian Arab Republic.
When he visited the Syrian President, businessman Bahaa Hariri was not representing his half brother Saad but the interests of Jordan and the Persian Gulf region. Lebanon has been without a government for 9 months and the Prime Minister (Saad Hariri) alone is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the country.
Bahaa Hariri arrived in Damascus in a private plane from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
His meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lasted 2 hours and the conversation centred on the reconstruction of Syria.
The dialogue between Bahaa Hariri and President Assad was incubated in very friendly conditions: both men made mention of the tight bond of friendship between Rafiq Hariri (who died on 14 February in an attack) and the Syrian President who was unjustly accused of ordering his assassination. Saudi Arabia (Bahaa Hariri holds both Lebanese and Saudi nationalities) could allocate 100 million dollars to reconstruction in Syria.
The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recalled that the personalities, firms and states that conspired against Syria could not participate in the reconstruction process. This then opens up opportunities for Lebanese intermediaries.