Aoun Visited Syria to Test Christian Community Stance

11-12-2008
Four days on its end, the historic visit paid by the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun to Damascus continues to be the "event" and the main essence of political debates in Lebanon.
Indeed, and while Aoun announced that the best response to the organized campaign against the visit was simply to ignore it, the campaign was still ongoing following the visit, seeking to "harm" the "general" and get political and electoral gains.
But Aoun, who previously told the "exploiters" that he was offering them a "free" gift and asked them to make use of it, reiterated that his visit to Damascus should be approached in a civilized, humanitarian, cultural and strategic way because limiting it to its domestic political dimension would downplay its value.
Speaking to Lebanese daily As-Safir, Aoun affirmed that he did neither discuss with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the issue of the parliamentary elections in 2009 nor the formation of the lists of candidates because, he said, he would not raise such internal issues with Syrian officials, as some people used to do.
He added that some parties considered that his visit was risky at the moment but he insisted on it because he wanted to know whether the Christian community supported my positions or rejected them. "If we were like others, Syria would have not received us this way," he said.
"I get excited before impossible battles and issues, which I usually win," he added.
In a response to a question, he said that the Syrian intelligence services could prepare a huge crowd to receive him but they could never make them to express their joy, because the Syrian people he met were honest.
The General said that, unlike some political parties sought to inspire, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman was happy with Aoun's historic trip to Damascus and has actually expressed satisfaction for its potential results. He noted that the visit was consolidating the official trend in the Lebanese-Syrian relations that was launched during the summit that joined in May Lebanese and Syrian Presidents Michel Suleiman and Bachar Assad.
On Wednesday, Aoun tackled his meeting with President Michel Suleiman following his Damascus trip. "It is my duty to brief the president on the outcome of my visit to Syria because we are not contesting, but are rather on the same political side," he declared, adding that Sleiman is the guardian of the constitution. "We have discussed the way that some political parties have handled my visit to Syria and their reactions to it and we decided to ignore them and not to reply," the General announced.
SFEIR HAS NO PROBLEM WITH LEBANESE LEADERS VISITING SYRIA
Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Thursday said he welcomed a visit by any Lebanese leader to Syria on condition they do not choose to be submissive.
In response to a question about what he thought about Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun's visit to Damascus, Sfeir said: "I welcome a visit to Syria by any official as long as it is within the framework of friendliness and not to go there to be obedient so that Syria remains in Lebanon."