Lebanon: Hafez al-Assad Avenue in Beirut renamed after Lebanese composer and playwright Ziad Rahbani

The Lebanese government's decision to change the name of the avenue, which bore the name of the former president of Syria, marks the end of a political era.

The Lebanese government has decided to rename Hafez al-Assad Avenue in Beirut after the very popular artist Ziad Rahbani who died at the end of July , a highly symbolic choice, welcomed on Wednesday, August 6 by many Lebanese who see it as the end of an era. From 1976 to 2005, Assad's Syria exercised guardianship over neighboring Lebanon where it kept several allies including Hezbollah .

But the fall in December of former President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez, marked a major turning point in Lebanon, upsetting the balance of political power at the very moment when Hezbollah emerged weakened from the war with Israel. "Hafez al-Assad is forgotten by history, Ziad Rahbani is the name of the airport road forever!" MP Mark Daou rejoiced on X.

The government announced Tuesday its decision to change the name of this avenue, which leads to the international airport and crosses southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Playwright and actor Ziad Itani also welcomed the name change, noting that Hafez al-Assad is "associated with (...) dark periods in Lebanese history, marked by massacres, atrocities, and assassinations."

Following the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005, several monuments erected in tribute to the Assad family were dismantled by the Lebanese army. The renaming of the avenue comes as the government has tasked the army with implementing an action plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of 2025 , an unprecedented step.

While Ziad Rahbani, son of the diva Fairouz, embodies a form of national unity through his work, deeply rooted in popular culture, the decision has not been unanimous, particularly among Hezbollah sympathizers. This name change is " totally unacceptable, because it is the result of political malice," said Hezbollah analyst Fayçal Abdel Sater on X.