Will Hariri return?

Will Hariri return? A question asked by all, answered by none, including Hariri himself.

Several parties encourage former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to return, however each party has its own accounts.

To begin with, Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun sees that Hariri's return as a push for him to reach the presidency post, which explains Aoun's readiness to form an alliance with Hariri, who shall occupy the premiership.

The deputy is urging the Future Movement leader to return to Lebanon in order to participate closely in the presidential polls.

According to Hizbullah party intermediates, the party blesses the meeting of Aoun and Hariri which took place in Europe. The sources also stress that Hizbullah party wants Hariri to return, mainly if Aoun managed to convince him with a three-way alliance or more.

But what about Jumblatt?

Some say that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt encourages Hariri to return to Lebanon, however Jumblatt's intermediates say that the Druze leader wishes that Hariri could return so he can play his political role but he fears for his security.

"Jumblatt cannot tell him to return as he did to martyr Rafic Hariri or Gibran Tueini, so he faces the same fate as them, God forbids," the sources added.

As for Speaker of the House Nabih Berri, who is out of the country nowadays, his sources say that he also encourages Hariri to return and he had already invited him since 7 months, "Come back and if you want the premiership, we will reconsider this matter." Berri's intermediates stress that the speaker is reiterating his invitation, considering it as open mainly amid the consensual atmosphere overwhelming Lebanon.

On the other side, Hariri's intermediates confirm that he will not return and he is not even seriously thinking about it, as long as the security situation in Lebanon is shaky.

Assassination of both officials Wissam al-Hassan and Mohamad Shatah proved that Hariri's choice was right.

Hariri sources stress that he can follow up on the presidential polls from his current location, unlike the parliamentary elections. "If the parliamentary elections were staged, he would come back," said the sources.

Close sources to Hariri add that Salam's cabinet is an introduction for the next government, because it restored Hariri's role and it proved that even if he were not the Prime Minister he is the cabinets-maker since he represents the Sunni legitimacy.