Aoun’s alliance with SSNP equal to return of the prodigal son
Lebanese Forces MP Farid Habib described Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun as “showing off” about his political and electoral alliances with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. He likened the alliance to the “return of the prodigal son to his family and surroundings, after an animosity that stemmed from keeping him away from the presidency during Syrian tutelage.”
Habib, in an interview with Kuwaiti daily al-Anbaa on Saturday, questioned Aoun’s statement in which he dismissed the bomb diffused on Tuesday outside the house of Kataeb leader and former President Amin Gemayel by saying it “did not lead to an assassination.”
Habib said Aoun insisted on justifying security incidents in “his way,” which pleased his local and regional allies. Habib asked what Aoun would have done had the bomb been found outside his residence in Rabieh and said he would have launched many attacks in the media.
Habib criticized Aoun’s attempts to preempt judicial investigations, “while he had attacked everybody for doing so beginning with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri up until the assassination of Lebanese army Captain Samer Hanna [who was shot at by Hezbollah gunmen in Soujoud in South Lebanon last year].”
Habib slammed Aoun for letting go of the issue of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons. He said that Aoun’s responsibility in the matter was not limited only to the cause of their capture but also included a need to request their safe return to their families.
Habib also asked about the fate of Lebanese sovereignty if those who “show off” about being symbols that violate sovereignty ever ruled the country.