A group of French veterans yesterday criticised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s presence at Bastille Day festivities, accusing Damascus of being behind an attack in Lebanon that claimed the lives of French soldiers.
The former combatants who served in a UN peace force in Lebanon said inviting Assad to watch today’s annual military parade dishonoured the memory of 58 French soldiers who died in the 1983 bomb attack in Beirut.
French soldiers should not file past the Syrian leader during the march down the Champs Elysees, said Jean-Luc Hemar, head of the Association of veterans from Camp Idron in central France.
“We feel uneasy about this,” he said, especially since some of the soldiers graduated from a military academy named in honour of one of the victims of the Drakkar bombing.“Drakkar will cast a shadow over July 14,” he said.
Sarkozy has invited Assad to join about a dozen leaders at the July 14 fete as part of a visit to France that marks a diplomatic comeback for the Syrian leader after years of isolation.
The French presidency yesterday defended the decision to invite Assad and said the 1983 truck-bombing of the Drakkar building in Beirut was carried out by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and not Syria.
“To blame Syria for Drakkar is a historical mistake,” said the Elysee official. “There’s really no reason for such controversy.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is the guest of honour at today’s national celebrations, with a detachment of 300 peacekeepers set to lead off the military parade down the Champs Elysees.
After being given a red-carpet welcome at the Elysee on Saturday, Assad held talks with Ban before joining some 40 leaders from Europe, the Middle East and north Africa to launch a new Union for the Mediterranean.