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Engineer turned social entrepreneur Sabri Cheriha hunches over a washing machine at a small depot in a suburb of Tunisia’s capital, the unassuming home of a startup he launched to tackle the country’s mounting electronic waste problem.Cheriha said there were currently about eight million household appliances and nine million cellphones in use across Tunisia, but once these devices break down or are replaced, “there’s no service to properly dispose of them”.WeFix, the startup that won him a second-place regional social entrepreneur award last year, stands out by offering an “all-in-one service”, providingcollection, repairs and recycling to reduce e-waste.The aim is to have “an environmental and social impact, but also an economic gain”, Cheriha said, adding that refurbished products can be up to 60 percent cheaper in a country where the average monthly salary is around 1,000 dinars ($310).The startup “avoided” 20 tonnes of waste in 2023 and 80 tonnes last year, according to its founder, who anticipates handling another 120 tonnes this year.”When we talk about ‘avoided waste’, we’re also considering the resources needed to manufacture a single washing machine — 50 or 60 kilos of finished product require over a tonne of raw materials,” he explained.”So our environmental impact is twofold.”While Tunisia has vowed to tackle waste in general, e-waste presents a particular challenge, and there is a lack of institutional avenues for dealing with it.Tunisia produces an estimated 140,000 tonnes of e-waste per year, said Walid Merdassi, a waste management expert.The majority of that — an estimated 80,000 tonnes per year — is generated by households, which have no official recycling system to turn to, he added.Merdassi said the government should require manufacturers and retailers to take back used machines, and encourage the 13 local companies specialised in recycling to extract and export valuable raw materials like gold, copper and platinum from the devices they process.In the meantime, WeFix is making strides at its own pace, reducing Tunisian e-waste by promoting the sale of refurbished appliances instead of buying new, Cheriha said.Cheriha eventually hopes to expand WeFix to Morocco, despite the challenges of scaling up nationally, he said.”Finding skilled workers in the electronics sector is becoming increasingly difficult”, as many emigrate to Europe where demand for refurbished appliances is high, he said.

An intense Israeli military raid had already sent Qusay Farahat fleeing his home in the occupied West Bank, but the offensive has since expanded, threatening a relative’s house where he sought shelter.The raid, which according to Israel aims to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure”, has targeted Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank including Jenin where 22-year-old Farhat is from.But since it began on January 21, the deadly Israeli offensive has gradually encroached upon more cities and towns.”Here, it feels like the camp all over again,” said Farahat, surveying wreckage outside the relative’s house in Jenin city where he had gone with his family for safety.An army bulldozer has ripped through the street, a common sight during Israeli raids which the military says aims to clear roads of explosives.”When the bulldozer came, it tore everything apart while we were inside,” said Farhat.”We shouted for help,” he said, adding the family was left “trapped” as the roaring machine left the front of the house in ruins.It had thrust a wrecked car and rubble against the house’s raised entrance, and further down the street, now stripped of tarmac, disfigured storefronts and tore down walls.Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and carries out regular raids against Palestinian militants, but the current offensive in the north is the longest continuous one in the territory in two decades.According to the United Nations, the military operation has killed at least 39 Palestinians and displaced 40,000. The Israeli military said it had taken some 90 Palestinians into custody over the past week alone.Since last month, according to UN figures, nearly 18,000 people have fled the Jenin camp, normally home to 24,000 residents including the Farhat family.With much of the camp damaged and Israeli forces still present, few Palestinian residents have been able to return.- Raided offices -In Jenin’s eastern neighbourhood, on the opposite side of the city from the camp, an elderly man struggled up a hill on an old bicycle ill-suited to deal with the mud left in the bulldozers’ wake, and a woman carrying groceries picked her way through the mounds of debris.One shopkeeper, fixing a bent metal awning, told AFP he already had to repair it just six months ago, following another Israeli raid.Adding to the destruction, an air strike on Thursday hit a car in the neighbourhood, starting a small fire that burned for hours.Parents warned their children to stay away from the smouldering remains fearing unexploded ordnance.The Israeli army said its forces had “located a rigged vehicle and dismantled it”, sharing a video of the drone strike.In one high-rise overlooking the camp, residents said Israeli soldiers had raided offices, searching them and possibly using them as a vantage point — as troops have done before in that area.AFP journalists saw safes pried open, their contents scattered on the floor, and glass windows shattered.In one office, a small Palestinian desk flag was burned and another larger one torn in half. Another room had portraits of iconic Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish defaced with a stamp from the legal office that was raided.- ‘Nothing left’ -Inside the Jenin camp, army jeeps patrolled on a wide dirt road where nearly two dozen houses stood before being demolished in the operation.Farhat said he felt lucky to have made it out of the camp alive.In the early days of the raid, “we were surrounded, and suddenly Israeli special forces appeared and began firing intensely,” he recalled.”People died, and others fled”, said Farhat.”Miraculously, we escaped.”Sabha Bani Gharra, a 95-year-old resident of the camp, was receiving treatment for a fracture at a hospital in Jenin city when the raid began.She has not been able to return home since, living instead in a sewing workshop of a charity based outside the camp.From a video taken by a neighbour, she has learned that her house was destroyed.”The house is gone. All I have is one outfit, the one I’m wearing,” said the woman, clutching an old cookie tin where she keeps here medicine — now one of her only few material possessions.”I have nothing left, except the kindness of strangers who help me survive day to day”.

Barcelona and Spain legend Gerard Pique will appear in court on March 14 in a corruption investigation into the Spanish Super Cup’s move to Saudi Arabia, a legal document seen by AFP on Friday showed.The probe has further sullied the image of Spanish football and ensnared disgraced former federation chief Luis Rubiales who was in charge when the decision was made.A Madrid court placed Pique under investigation in May last year over the contracts to take the Super Cup to the oil-rich Gulf country from 2020.The deals are worth 40 million euros ($41.2 million) a year and were brokered by Kosmos, a company owned by Pique, while the former defender was still playing for Barcelona.The court said there were “possible illegalities with criminal implications”, including a clause to “guarantee the payment of a commission of four million euros per year to Kosmos”.A document dated Thursday from a court in Majadahonda outside Madrid said “the declaration of Mr Gerard Pique as an investigated party is agreed on March 14”.Rubiales, who faces possible jail time for his forced kiss on star forward Jenni Hermoso in 2023, has always defended the legality of the deal to take the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. Pique has also insisted that everything was “legal”, saying he was “proud” of the deal.

Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza, a source with knowledge of the preparations said on Friday.The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, to take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo one week later on the same issue, the source said.Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would also attend.Trump sparked a global outcry with his proposal for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip and to move more than two million Palestinians out of the war-devastated territory, citing Egypt or Jordan as possible destinations.Trump made the proposal during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.Arab countries have come together in a rare united front, outraged by the idea of displacing the Palestinians en masse.For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.But Trump has floated the possibility of cutting off aid to longstanding allies Jordan and Egypt should they refuse his plan.Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. More than half of the country’s population of 11 million is of Palestinian origin.Egypt put forward its own proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza under a framework that would allow for the Palestinians to remain in the territory.- ‘The only plan’ -Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday the United States was eager to hear new proposals on Gaza from Arab governments but that, “right now the only plan — they don’t like it — but the only plan is the Trump plan”.In January, Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken outlined a roadmap for post-war Gaza and warned it required Israel’s acceptance of a path to a Palestinian state — something the Israeli government strongly opposes. Regional states including Saudi Arabia have repeatedly called for a Palestinian state, existing alongside Israel.Rubio was on his way to Europe on Friday. He was set to join Vice President JD Vance in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Trump spoke by phone with his counterpart Vladimir Putin and said he would pursue talks to end the war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.Afterwards Rubio is set to fly on to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire in effect since January 19.Following his surprise call with Putin, Trump said the two leaders were “going to meet probably in Saudi Arabia the first time”.Riyadh, which has been increasingly prominent on the international diplomatic stage, on Friday expressed “its welcome to hosting the summit in Saudi Arabia”, without confirming whether or when the meeting would go ahead.Mutlaq al-Mutairi, of King Saud University, said Saudi Arabia is seeking to emphasise the importance of its role in any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.It wants “to emphasise that it stands behind Egypt and Jordan, the Arab countries threatened with displacement”, he said, adding that would include economic backing should the United States withdraw support. Saudi analyst Suleiman Aloqeliy said the meeting will seek to “lay out the rules of engagement and the foundations of an Arab alternative solution to the issue of displacement”. Two of the governments invited, Qatar and Egypt, are mediators in the Gaza war.They and the other participants “are now the core countries with regards to Palestine”, said Umar Karim, a specialist on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.”So the purpose is to develop a unified stance and then rally all other Arab countries around it,” Karim said.

Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface is “happy” and “focused” even though a potential big-money January move to Saudi Arabia fell through last month, the German club’s sporting director Simon Rolfes said Friday.Boniface was left out of training and one matchday squad in January while Leverkusen were set to receive up to 70 million euros ($73.50 million) from Saudi side Al-Nassr, according to German media. Instead, the Saudi club signed Aston Villa forward Jhon Duran for a reported fee of 77 million euros. Boniface, 24, returned to training with the defending Bundesliga champions and has scored two goals in three games, including an extra-time winner in Leverkusen’s German Cup quarter-final win against local rivals Cologne. Rolfes said on Friday that Boniface was fully focused and did not feel his chance of a big money move had passed. “He’s very good now and I think he’s happy. He’s happy with the guys. That’s what I feel every day when I see him. “He’s laughing in the locker room with the other crazy guys.”They have a lot of fun together and he knows he has a bright future, so it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”Rolfes, who brought Boniface to the club in the summer of 2023, did not comment on the reported transfer fee or salary, but said it was “normal” for a player and a club to consider big offers. “He likes the club, the teammates, our ambitions, but for sure when it’s a certain amount in salary the player also starts thinking about it and I think that’s normal and there was never a problem.””Sporting-wise, we have no doubt about his quality,” Rolfes said, adding “Xabi (Alonso), myself and the club, we wanted to keep Victor but for a certain amount you have to be open to speak.”Leverkusen, who qualified directly for the Champions League last 16 and are through to the final four of the German Cup, host league leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday.

In a desolate area of Syria where Lebanese militant group Hezbollah once held sway, security forces shot open the gates to an abandoned building and found a defunct drug factory.Syria’s new authorities launched a security campaign last week around Qusayr at the porous Lebanese border, cracking down on drug and weapons smugglers.They have also accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which for years propped up Bashar al-Assad, of firing at them in clashes in the weeks since his ouster.”We’ve begun to comb factories used by Hezbollah and remnants of the defunct regime,” said Major Nadim Madkhana, who heads Syria’s border security force in Homs province near Lebanon.Before Syria’s war erupted in 2011, Syrians and Lebanese lived side by side in the border area — a mostly tribal region long renowned for smuggling.In April 2013, Hezbollah announced it was fighting alongside Assad’s forces and leading battles in the Qusayr area, a rebel stronghold at the time.After weeks of battles that displaced thousands of Syrians, Hezbollah seized control of the area, establishing bases and weapons depots and digging tunnels — which Israel repeatedly targeted in subsequent years.Hezbollah’s support for Assad was as much an act of loyalty for its fellow member of the “axis of resistance” as it was a necessity for its own survival, with Syria acting as its weapons conduit from Iran.”Under the defunct regime, this area was an economic lifeline for Hezbollah and drug and arms traders traffickers,” Madkhana said.In the building raided by Syrian border security, AFP correspondents saw large bags of captagon pills — a potent synthetic drug mass-produced under Assad that sparked an addiction crisis in the region.Both the sanctions-hit ousted government and Hezbollah, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation, have faced accusations of using the captagon trade to finance themselves.In the months leading up to Assad’s December 8 ouster, Hezbollah pulled many of its militants back to Lebanon to fight an all-out war with Israel.But it was only after his overthrow that it rushed the majority of its forces and allies out of the country.Attesting to the speed of the pullout, plates of food were left to rot in the kitchen of one facility.- Drug traffickers -Snow-speckled dirt tracks leading to the facilities still bear marks left by barricades that smugglers had set up “to delay our advance”, Madkhana said.In recent days, Syrian forces have clashed with “Hezbollah loyalists and regime remnants” in the area, some of them armed with rocket launchers, he added.Charred vehicles lay by the side of the road, near damaged luxury villas built by drug traffickers, residents told AFP.Hezbollah provided cover for Lebanese and Syrian smugglers operating at the border, according to residents of the area.After more than five decades of rule by the Assads, the rebels that once fought his army are now running the country, and that has had a knock-on effect on neighbouring Lebanon.Earlier this week, Madkhana told AFP Syrian forces had started coordinating with the Lebanese army at the border.Last week, the Lebanese army said it was responding to incoming fire from across the Syrian border.Syria shares a 330-kilometre (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation, making it ideal turf for smugglers.- ‘Banned from returning’ -Since Assad’s ouster, Syrians displaced during the war have started returning home to Qusayr.After spending almost half of his life as a refugee in northern Lebanon, Hassan Amer, 21, was thrilled to return.”I was young when I left, I don’t know much about Qusayr,” he said, painting the walls of his house with help from neighbours and families.”We returned the day after the regime fell,” he said, beaming with pride.Hezbollah “took over Qusayr and made it theirs while its people were banned from returning,” he said, adding that schools and public institutions had been turned into bases.In 2019, Hezbollah said residents of Qusayr could return home, citing a decision by Assad’s government.Mohammed Nasser, 22, and his mother were among the lucky ones allowed back in 2021.”My elderly grandfather was alone here… and I was under 18,” he said, meaning he was not yet due for conscription.His father stayed in Lebanon, fearing arrest.For years, Nasser’s family and a couple of others were the only Syrians living in the area, he said, while Lebanese “loyal to Hezbollah lived in the less-damaged houses”.Nasser’s 84-year-old grandfather, also named Mohammed, recalled the day Assad and his family fled.”On liberation day, they fled… and the town’s people came back at night, before sunrise, to the sound of the call to prayer,” he said.

Israel said Friday it had received the names of three hostages to be freed by militants this weekend, after a crisis in the ceasefire threatened to plunge Gaza back into war.The hostages due for release Saturday are Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen and Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.One of them is being held by Hamas’s militant ally Islamic Jihad, which participated in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.Israel had warned Hamas that it must free three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war, after the group said it would pause releases over what it described as Israeli violations of the Gaza truce.The January 19 ceasefire has been under massive strain since President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of the territory, under which Gaza’s population of more than two million would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.Arab countries have come together to reject the plan, and Saudi Arabia will on February 20 host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for a summit on the issue.- Red Cross calls for access -The releases of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as agreed under the terms of the truce, have brought much-needed relief to families on both sides of the war, but the emaciated state of the Israeli captives freed last week sparked anger in Israel and beyond.”The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage,” the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the exchanges, said in a statement Friday. “We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages.”Following Hamas’s handover ceremony last week, during which the captives were forced to speak, the ICRC appealed for future handovers to be more private and dignified.Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel, who was released in a previous exchange nearly two weeks ago, described mistreatment during his captivity in a video message.”I am a survivor. I was held for 484 days in unimaginable conditions, every single day felt like it could be my last,” he said.”I was starved and I was tortured, both physically and emotionally.”- ‘Power games’ -Trump, whose proposal to take over Gaza and move its 2.4 million residents to Egypt or Jordan sparked global outcry, warned this week that “hell” would break loose if Hamas failed to release “all” remaining hostages by noon on Saturday.Israel later insisted Hamas release “three living hostages” on Saturday.”If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages, by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end,” said government spokesman David Mencer.If fighting resumes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it would not just lead to the “defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages”, but also “allow the realisation of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza”.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due in Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss the ceasefire after attending the Munich Security Conference, where he will hold talks on Ukraine.Katz last week ordered the Israeli army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, and the military said it had already begun reinforcing its troops around the territory.Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said despite their public disputes, Israel and Hamas were still interested in maintaining the truce and have not “given up on anything yet”.”They’re just playing power games,” she said.- ‘God almighty?’ – Arab countries have put on a rare show of unity in their rejection of Trump’s proposal for Gaza.After the Riyadh summit, the Arab League will convene in Cairo on February 27 to discuss the same issue.Trump has threatened to cut off a vital aid lifeline to long-standing allies Jordan and Egypt should they refuse to come on board.Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. More than half of the country’s population of 11 million is of Palestinian origin.Egypt put forward its own proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza under a framework that would allow for the Palestinians to remain in the territory.Palestinians in Gaza have also voiced opposition to the plan.For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.”Who is Trump? Is he God almighty? The land of Jordan is for Jordanians, and the land of Egypt belongs to Egyptians,” said Gaza City resident Abu Mohamed al-Husari.”We are here, deeply rooted in Gaza — the resilient, besieged and unbreakable Gaza.”Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including at least 35 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the UN considers reliable.burs-ser/smw

Thousands gathered in Beirut Friday to mark 20 years since the assassination of ex-premier Rafic Hariri, and to call for the return of his son Saad to political life.Rafic Hariri, a billionaire and towering political figure who oversaw Lebanon’s reconstruction after the 1975-1990 civil war, had recently resigned as premier when he was killed on February 14, 2005.In 2022, a UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in absentia to life imprisonment for the massive suicide bombing that killed him and 21 others, though the group has refused to hand them over.His son Saad was thrust into the political limelight following his father’s murder, widely attributed to Damascus and Hezbollah, which triggered massive protests that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon after 29 years of occupation.Saad Hariri, who has since served three times as prime minister, is based in the United Arab Emirates, but returned for the annual commemorations to a changed Lebanon.Hezbollah, once a dominant force, is now badly depleted after its recent war with Israel and the ouster in Syria of Bashar al-Assad.In a speech to a crowd of supporters at his father’s tomb on Friday, Saad Hariri stopped short of announcing a return to politics, but did say his Future Movement party would “stay with you and be your voice in all national milestones and in all upcoming events”.The commemoration comes days before the deadline for implementing a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which ended more than a year of hostilities that left the group depleted.But Hezbollah still carries weight, with supporters Thursday blocking the airport road after two Iranian planes were barred from landing.A day earlier, Israel’s army had accused Iran of sending funds to arm the group through the Beirut airport.On Friday, thousands of flag-waving Hariri supporters began gathering at his father’s burial site in Beirut.”For the first time in 20 years, our joy is double: first because the Syrian regime fell… and second because Sheikh Saad is among us,” homemaker Diana Al-Masri, 52, told AFP.Muin Desouki, 25, had come all the way from Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region.”We came today to stand by Saad Hariri on the anniversary of his father’s martyrdom,” he said. “We want him to return to the political scene because he is a national symbol.”A source close to Hariri, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media, had said before his speech that he may not resume political activities right away.Until early 2022, Hariri was the main Sunni Muslim leader in a country where political power is shared along sectarian lines.Once enjoying strong support from Saudi Arabia, Hariri’s relationship with the regional heavyweight deteriorated because of his conciliatory attitude toward Hezbollah.In 2017, Hariri resigned as premier in an address from Riyadh, citing Iran’s “grip” on Lebanon through Hezbollah and prompting accusations he was being held against his will.French President Emmanuel Macron had to intervene to secure his return to Lebanon, where Hariri rescinded his resignation.He resigned again as prime minister after nationwide protests in 2019 demanding the overhaul of Lebanon’s political class.In a tearful 2022 announcement, he said he had suspended his political activities and those of his party, citing “Iranian influence” among other reasons.The source told AFP that all these reasons had now “vanished”.For decades, Hezbollah was Lebanon’s dominant political force, but its arsenal and leadership were decimated during its war with Israel, while Assad’s ouster cut the group’s vital arms supply lines.Nodding Friday to the fall of Assad, long blamed for his father’s killing, Hariri said “no one can escape divine justice”.- ‘New chance’ -In January, former army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president after a more than two-year vacuum.He was widely seen as the United States and Saudi Arabia’s preferred choice.This month, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who had been presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, formed a government. On Friday, Salam visited Rafic Hariri’s tomb to pay his respects.Riyadh has recently retaken an interest in Lebanese politics after distancing itself for years over Hezbollah’s influence.”Saudi Arabia seeks a strong, organised Sunni leadership,” said Imad Salamey, head of the International and Political Studies Department at the Lebanese American University.”If (Saad) Hariri can present himself as that figure, his return would serve both his interests and those of the kingdom.”

Lebanon on Friday marked 20 years since former prime minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination, with seismic political changes underway that have weakened Hezbollah and its backers and could herald a comeback for Hariri’s son Saad.Rafic Hariri, a towering political figure who oversaw Lebanon’s reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil war, had recently resigned as premier when he was killed on February 14, 2005.In 2022, a UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in absentia to life imprisonment for the massive suicide bombing that killed him and 21 others, though the group has refused to hand them over.His son Saad, who served three times as prime minister, is based in the United Arab Emirates but has again returned for the annual commemorations.This time, he is back in a changed Lebanon.The commemoration comes days before the deadline for implementing a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which ended more than a year of hostilities that weakened the group.Concerns have mounted for the fragile truce after Beirut rejected Israel’s demand to remain in five southern locations after the February 18 deadline.But Hezbollah still carries weight, with supporters Thursday blocking the airport road after two Iranian planes were barred from landing.A day earlier, Israel’s army had accused Iran of sending funds to arm the group through the Beirut airport.On Friday morning, a few thousand Hariri supporters carrying Lebanese flags gathered near his father’s burial site in downtown Beirut. “For the first time in 20 years, our joy is double: first because the Syrian regime fell… and second because Sheikh Saad is among us,” homemaker Diana Al-Masri, 52, told AFP.A source close to Hariri said he was due to give a speech addressing developments “in Lebanon and the region”, though he may not resume political activities right away.”His supporters are calling on him to return to political life,” said the source, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.Until early 2022, Hariri was the main Sunni Muslim leader in a country where political power is shared along sectarian lines.Once enjoying strong support from Saudi Arabia, Hariri’s relationship with the regional heavyweight deteriorated because of his conciliatory attitude toward Hezbollah.In 2017, Hariri resigned as premier in a shock address from Riyadh, citing Iran’s “grip” on Lebanon through Hezbollah and prompting accusations he was being held against his will.French President Emmanuel Macron had to intervene to secure his return to Lebanon, where Hariri rescinded his resignation.He resigned again as prime minister after nationwide protests in 2019 demanding the wholesale overhaul of Lebanon’s political class.In a tearful 2022 announcement, he said he had suspended his political activities and those of his party, citing “Iranian influence” among other reasons.The source told AFP that all these reasons had now “vanished”.For decades, Hezbollah was Lebanon’s dominant political force, but its arsenal and leadership were decimated during its war with Israel, while Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad’s ouster cut the group’s vital arms supply lines.- ‘New chance’ -In January, former army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president after a more than two-year vacuum.He was widely seen as the United States and Saudi Arabia’s preferred choice.This month, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who had been presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, formed a government. On Friday, Salam visited Rafic Hariri’s tomb to pay his respects.”Lebanon has been given a new chance as Iranian influence is declining and the international community has returned,” the source said.Riyadh has recently retaken an interest in Lebanese politics after distancing itself for years over Hezbollah’s influence.”Saudi Arabia seeks a strong, organised Sunni leadership,” said Imad Salamey, head of the International and Political Studies Department at the Lebanese American University.”If (Saad) Hariri can present himself as that figure, his return would serve both his interests and those of the kingdom.”His father’s assassination anniversary “will serve as an opportunity to assess his ability to mobilise support and reassert his leadership within the Sunni community”, Salamey added.Hariri was thrust into the political limelight following his father’s murder, widely attributed to Damascus and Hezbollah at the time, which triggered massive protests that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon after 29 years of occupation.Rafic Hariri was a billionaire and the architect of Lebanon’s reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil war.Hezbollah, meanwhile, is desperate to prove it has not lost ground to political rivals.After the airport protests, authorities said they were working to bring back Lebanese passengers stranded in Iran using two Middle East Airlines planes.But on Friday a source from the national carrier told AFP that Tehran had denied them permission to land in a tit-for-tat move.Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims the group and Lebanese officials have denied, with the army reinforcing security measures there in past months.