NNA - Marking the 17th commemoration of his martyrdom, Mrs. Nazik Rafic Hariri paid tribute today to the precious soul and cherished memory of the late Martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, in a "remembrance and longing note", saying: "Once again, Martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri brings us together around his good memory after years of hardship, marked with sad separation but not void of hope for a better tomorrow....Yes, longing and nostalgia for the lifetime companion and the companion of the homeland, for the exceptional statesman...Seventeen years have passed, our dear martyr, and I have been calling on to you in every occasion, to you and to our beloved country Lebanon, so that I may recall some of our conversations, and the devotion and correct vision in your heart for our dear country...I am calling out to you as your aura is hovering around us, we are looking for you everywhere, but we cannot find you. We are in desperate need for you and your correct vision..."

Hariri went on: "Today we are in a very delicate and critical stage. We are facing life problems that cannot be dealt with by political rivalries and alignments, but rather by reconciliation and national unity. May you be with us at this difficult stage our country is going through, to help us find solutions. Today we are in dire need of your presence amongst us, because the state of institutions, law, social justice and humanity that you have always strived and sacrificed to achieve has become difficult to achieve..."

"Perhaps this memory, dear to our hearts, will be an occasion to renew our adherence to the constants of dialogue and all of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri's national, political, economic, humanitarian and health options. They are indispensable choices because they are the only way to defend the homeland and preserve its unity so that it remains a free, independent, sovereign and stable nation," hoped Hariri.

She pledged to remain loyal to his path and to continue to follow in his footsteps, alongside his family and supporters, being true to his march, cause and approach. "We affirm that our flag is the flag of our beloved Lebanon, and our flag is the flag of your legacy...for my pen is unable to describe what you have achieved for our dear country and our good people," she asserted.

Hariri concluded by praying to God Almighty to "ward off this affliction and epidemic from our country, our Arab nation, and the whole world, and to have mercy on the soul of Martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and the rest of the nation's righteous martyrs, and preserve our homeland and bless it with bountifulness, health, security, peace and safety."

=============R.Sh.