Lebanon celebrates 66th Independence Day

Beirut - Lebanon celebrated its 66th Independence Day on Sunday amid calls to enhance national unity and bring about economic and political reforms. On November 22, 1943, Lebanon was liberated from a French mandate that lasted 23 years after the fall of Ottoman rule.

A military parade was held in the capital Beirut, with Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, as well as foreign and Arab officials present.

President Michel Suleiman, in a speech on the eve of the Independence Day said, "We need to build state institutions according to a political platform based on openness and the preservation of civil rights."

He also called for abandoning political sectarianism, which had acted as a major obstacle to the formation of a new national unity cabinet made up of rival political factions earlier this month.