(Adnkronos) – The Lebanese authorities have decided to rename one of the country’s main arteries, so far named after former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar, in honor of the musician and playwright, Ziad Rahbani, an iconic figure of Lebanese culture, who died last month at the age of 69. The decision represents for many observers the symbolic end of an era lasting almost 30 years in which the Assad family – also thanks to the alliance with Hezbollah – exerted a strong influence on the Land of the Cedars.
The decision to name the artery leading to the international airport – and which crosses the southern neighborhoods of the capital, historically Hezbollah strongholds – after Rahbani was welcomed by independent MP Mark Daou, a long-time critic of the Shiite movement. “Hafez al-Assad Street in the dustbin of history, from now on it will be called Ziad Rahbani!”, he wrote on X. “Every time I drove down that road, I felt like the Syrian army was still in Lebanon. Now I feel psychologically relieved: that period is over, and thankfully,” Hassan Roumani, a resident of the area, told AFP.
Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976, officially to end the civil war that began a year earlier. But their stay lasted almost 30 years, until 2005, when they withdrew under popular and international pressure, following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, which many blame on Damascus and Hezbollah. After the withdrawal, the Lebanese army dismantled numerous monuments dedicated to the Assad family. The decision comes at a politically delicate time: the government has announced that it has instructed the army to draw up a plan by the end of the year for the disarmament of Hezbollah, an unprecedented move since the end of the civil war.
