Lebanon... Changing Hafez al-Assad Avenue to Ziad Rahbani Avenue

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Exclusive

**((Arab Sea)) Follow-ups:** The Lebanese Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the amendment of the name of the street extending from the airport road towards the Salim Salam tunnel from "Hafez al-Assad Avenue" to "Ziad Rahbani Avenue" in honor of the late musician and playwright. Lebanese Minister of Information Paul Murqos said after the Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday that President Joseph Aoun was the one who submitted a request to the Council for this amendment, noting that the Council asked the Minister of Interior to complete the necessary procedures in this regard. After Rahbani's death on July 26, activists and intellectuals launched a campaign via social media to name a street in Hamra, where he lived for years, after him. His mother, the artist Fairuz, bid him farewell at a moving funeral attended by representatives of all sects and affiliations in Lebanon, and the President's wife attended. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced on the same day of the funeral the posthumous awarding of the National Order of the Cedar, Commander rank, to the deceased.