Aoun’s Visit to Syria Is to Express Gratitude for His Return to Lebanon Deal
Democratic Gathering MP Antoine Andraous questioned the efficacy of visits to Damascus by politicians, “to take the blessings of Rustom Ghazali [the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon] and his master,” without respecting the feelings of the one and a half million Lebanese who called for Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Andraous asked about, “the renewed pilgrimage to Syria by political and military leaders to give a pardon to the Syrian regime.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Andraous criticized “jogging” toward the Syrian regime, at a time when many issues about Lebanese-Syrian relations were not resolved yet and Ghazali was acting, “as if nothing has changed.”
Andraous said that forming electoral candidate lists for the 2009 parliamentary elections was underway in Rif-Dimashq [rural Damascus] instead of Aanjar, which used to be the headquarters for the Syrian intelligence in Lebanon.
“We know that the interior minister visited Damascus upon the cabinet’s decision; but under what decision did the army commander go [to Damascus] and what were the results he came with? Has there been agreement to disarm [Palestinian refugee] camps supported by Syria?” he asked.
Andraous said that it was understandable that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun visit Syria, “to thank it for the deal of his return to Lebanon and for saving his wife and two daughters from a Syrian officer when he left them in the Baabda refugee and escaped jogging toward the French embassy.”
Whereas the visits of political and military leaders, he added, undermined Lebanese dignity and sovereignty.