Lebanon's Hariri praises Obama's engagement in region

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's vision for the Middle East and his engagement with allies and enemies alike show goodwill and may eventually lead to peace in the region, Saad al-Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon, said on Tuesday.

Hariri told Reuters in an interview that Obama's overture to Iran and reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Syria, which he blames for killing his father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, were good for Lebanon.

"President Obama has a lot of goodwill in the region. If he has 100 days (of honeymoon) in the U.S. I think he will have 200 days in the region," he said.

"The president has inspired a lot of people and the way his administration has been doing business in the region, by calling and engaging allies, by sending Senator (George) Mitchell, by engaging to understand the region better, even their engagement with Syria, all of this is positive."

"I think if he continues this way and is serious about peace then we will have peace in the region," Hariri said.

Hariri praised President Obama's overture to Iran, in which Obama offered a new beginning and dialogue based on mutual respect.

"We have to see where all this goes. We believe that Iran (is) a nation ... that people need to talk to. Maybe the international community has some concerns. This is between the international community and Iran and dialogue is always good. I hope there will be a positive outcome from this dialogue."

Hariri said Saudi Arabia mended ties with Syria to restore Arab unity and ease tensions in the region ahead of serious challenges, including the coming to power of a right-wing Israeli government led by Benjamin Netenyahu.

"What Saudi Arabia did was to put Arab unity ahead of any problems in the region. His Majesty King Abdullah put out an initiative to unify the Arabs. If they have some differences they need to work out those differences...

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"This initiative was very courageous because if we don't unite, especially in front of a Netanyahu government, that is going to be a very difficult period for the peace process, especially for the Palestinians.

Rivalry between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which has backed Hariri's March 14 alliance, has been one of the factors behind a political crisis that spilled into armed conflict last May.

Relations between Riyadh and Damascus hit rock bottom after the assassination in 2005 of Hariri's father, a Saudi citizen and protege. Damascus denied any involvement in the killing, now the focus of an international tribunal that began last month.

Hariri said detente between Europe and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year did not worry him because the international tribunal into the murder of his father was on course and he was confident justice would prevail.

"Today we have a tribunal. This tribunal will take its course. I have full confidence in the tribunal and the work that it is doing. I will accept any decision that comes out because we fought for it. We were the ones who asked for it... There is a trend in the international community to end the impunity.

"No matter how long it takes we should wait for it and eventually accept whatever decision comes out of the tribunal."

Hariri and 22 others died in a suicide truck bombing on February 14, 2005. The killing sparked a worldwide outcry that forced Syria to end a 29-year military presence in Lebanon.

Investigators have yet to indict any suspects but the inquiry has implicated high-level Syrian and Lebanese security services officers in the assassination, which was followed by a series of political murders.

"We certainly said we believe it is the Syrians that have committed this assassination but this tribunal is going to decide and say who committed this crime... So we will wait until this tribunal comes out and we will see if we were right or not," Hariri said.

U.N. investigators have said a likely motive for the assassination was Hariri's support for a 2004 U.N. resolution demanding that Syrian and other foreign troops quit Lebanon.

Hariri said Arab dialogue and unity would be "extremely good" and would "only bring stability for Lebanon," which has been divided into two camps -- the Hariri camp, backed by Sunni heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the Shi'ite-led Hezbollah bloc, supported by Iran and Syria.

"We have (parliamentary) elections in June. We need this stability for Lebanon and we want this unification among the Arabs to reflect on Lebanon," he said.