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Lebanon marks 73rd Independence Day

Xinhua, November 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lebanon celebrated Tuesday its 73rd Independence Day with an official ceremony including a military parade by the Lebanese Armed Forces and other Security agencies, staged at Shafiq al-Wazzan Boulevard in Downtown Beirut.

President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Caretaker PM Tammam Salam attended the ceremony.

During the parade, hundreds of red, white and green balloons representing the colors of Lebanon's flag were launched skywards after military helicopters overflew marching soldiers.

Aoun, Berri, Hariri and Salam later headed to Baabda palace where they received well-wishers.

Former Army Chief Michel Aoun was elected on Oct. 31 as the 13th President of Lebanon ending more than two and half years of vacancy in the post that started with the end of the six-year tenure of former President Michel Suleiman on May 25, 2014.

Hariri was designated to form a government but the formation is witnessing some delay amid wrangling over the distribution of ministerial portfolios.

Lebanese Independence Day commemorates the country's liberation in 1943 after 23 years of governance by French Mandate that succeeded the Ottoman rule at the end of the First World War in 1918.

Aoun hailed on Monday the Lebanese army for "gaining citizens' confidence and being their source of security and serenity," calling for "liberating civil servants from the culture of corruption."

He has said in a televised address to the nation on the eve of Lebanon's Independence Day "when dangers threaten the country, the army remains its security valve and the firm core of its national unity."

"We must immunize independence through refraining from seeking help from foreign forces to achieve partisan interests at the expense of the public interest," the president noted.

In addition to the pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun said in his oath of office that Lebanon must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their country.

He also urged to endorse an "independent foreign policy" and to protect Lebanon from "the fires burning across the region." Endit