Missing Lebanese in Syria Are a "Myth"
FPM leader Michel Aoun said that the file on missing Lebanese in Syria is being turned into a “myth” and described independent candidates in the elections as the “most dangerous people” because they are all aligned with the March 14 movement.
FPM leader MP Michel Aoun was addressing a conference for the “National Christian Gathering” in Batroun on Saturday.
Responding to a question on his talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, he said “I assured Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir that Syria is not returning. I told him [Sfeir] that relations between Syria and Lebanon would be [like those] between two states and I said that we brought reassurances from Damascus to comfort all the Lebanese.”
He went on to say that “briefing the Maronite Patriarch on the outcome of my visit to Damascus was a political courtesy.”
He said that Lebanon is defended when his people hold their rifles, for “the weak cannot wage war nor make peace.”
Aoun said “we help the citizens of Batroun to meet their demands, but we do not make elusive promises.”
He said that the Free Patriotic Movement “doesn’t agree with the policies of the current government, which began with the governments of late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
On the differences among the March 14 and March 8 ministers, he said “what is causing problems inside this government is the lack of moral and legislative standards to govern the performance of both the majority and the minority.”
“The Constitutional Council protects the minority from crossing lines in legislation and that is why [the majority] has blocked its formation from the beginning,” he added.
Responding to a question to Aoun on reconciliations, Marada Movement Sleiman Franjieh, who was attending the event, asked “if Geagea wants reconciliation for the purpose of unifying the Christian ranks?” If so, Franjieh said that this can be done after parliamentary elections, but if the reconciliation is for electoral aims, than Franjieh said he rejects it.
Franjieh said that Geagea did not seek reconciliation with Marada from the beginning, but only after he realized he could gain from it politically.