Syria Today | Aoun fixes ties with Syria

Aoun fixes ties with Syria

Lebanese Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun turned a new page in his relationship with Syria when he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on December 3.

Aoun, a former Lebanese Army general defeated by Syrian troops in a closing battle of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and the present head of the Free Patriotic Movement, claims his animosity towards Damascus ended when Syrian forces pulled out of Lebanon in April 2005.

Despite fierce criticism from anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians who continue to hold that Damascus is a threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty, Aoun met with Assad, Syrian officials and leaders of the country’s Christian community during his five-day trip.

“We spoke with our hearts and minds… so there remains no trace of a past in which there are many painful things,” Aoun said at a press conference following a meeting with Assad. “We are turning a new page where there is no victor and no loser. This is a return to normal relations. Our meeting today is a promise of a bright future.”

Buthaina Shaaban, President Assad’s political and media adviser, said Aoun’s visit opened “a new era in relations between Syria and Lebanon”.

Aoun heads the largest Christian bloc in the Lebanese parliament but holds no official post. He has long been an influential figure in Lebanese politics and a Hezbollah ally. Referring to the militant group while visiting Syria, Aoun praised the “miracles achieved by resistance fighters” against Israel during the July War in 2006.

Addressing Syrian concerns that terrorist groups have a strong presence in northern Lebanon, Aoun said it was well known where these groups sourced their funds – an apparent reference to allegations that Saad Hariri’s Future Movement in Lebanon has been funding Sunni fundamentalist groups in the north of the country.

In a statement on December 5, Hezbollah praised the “courage and honesty” of Aoun’s visit. The statement added Aoun now has a clear approach to relations with Syria. “Many of those who visited Syria went there as thieves asking for high positions; as for General Aoun, he went there to give and take for the sake of his country,” Hezbollah deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem said.

During a lecture to students at the University of Damascus on December 4, Aoun said Syria had always been a “rival not an enemy”, saying it was now necessary to reconsider the past. He said “major powers” were “preventing the return to normal relations between Lebanon and Syria”.

As acting prime minister and military commander in 1989, Aoun waged a ‘war of liberation’ against Syrian troops in Lebanon. A year later, Syrian forces drove Aoun’s troops out of their positions, forcing him into exile in France. He returned in May 2005, a month after Damascus ended 29 years of military domination in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Aoun, 73, stunned Lebanon the following year when he entered an alliance with the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.

From exile in France, Aoun was a staunch critic of Syria’s role in Lebanon. He claims his views changed once Syrian troops pulled out of the country. “This is an old story that is now over. We must have better relations with Syria,” Aoun said on December 3.

Aoun ran for president in 2007, but was defeated by current Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in a parliament vote in May 2008.

Whilst in Syria, Aoun also said he was hopeful of a quick solution to the issue of some 650 missing Lebanese suspected to be held in Syrian jails.