SYRIA Aoun visits Assad to talk about refugees and the Lebanese president

The former head of state traveled to Damascus to meet with the Syrian president. He explained to Assad the reasons for his support for Azour and opposition to the candidacy of Frangié, who is close to Damascus. The issue of Syrian refugees and the attack on Europe that “rejects” their “return” and presses for their “integration” in Lebanon (and Turkey).

Beirut ( / OLJ) – The former Lebanese head of state Michel Aoun yesterday visited Damascus for the first time since 2009 and met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to discuss the main regional issues and the “institutional stalemate” in Beirut that until now he has blocked the appointment of the president. The face-to-face meeting came at a time of profound change for Syria in the Arab and international world. Beginning with its full re-entry into the Arab League, recently sanctioned at a summit in Jeddah, after being isolated for 10 years due to the repression of the internal revolt, which later turned into a proxy war between local and world powers. .

The meeting between former President Aoun and Assad is a political event closely followed by international experts and analysts, as well as by political actors and observers of Lebanese affairs. Especially at a time like this, when the (possibly) decisive game is being played in the race to Baabda’s palace. On June 5, the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berry, summoned the deputies to a session scheduled for June 14 at 11:00. The objective is to achieve the election of a new head of state, a vacant position since the end of Aoun’s term, which ended on October 31, 2022, and which also prevents the formation of an executive with full powers.

The parliamentary session could be decisive for the election of the President of the Republic, with the probable confrontation between the candidacies of Sleiman Frangié and Jihad Azour. The first has the support of the Shiite Amal-Hezbollah tandem, while the second, a former minister of the Lebanese Republic, held leadership positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is close to the Free Patriotic Movement (of Aoun himself) and to several opposition parties. For Aoun, he writes L’Orient-Le Jour (LOJ), the visit to Syria “is an opportunity to underline his closeness to the regime [de Assad] on various issues” and that the “repositioning of the party on the presidential issue [el voto a Azour y no a Frangié] it has no repercussions on the rest”. But above all, the Lebanese French-speaking daily continues, to affirm that “his battle is not against Sleiman Frangié as a friend of the Assad family, but against Nabih Berry”, whom Aoun considers one of the pillars of the system of corruption that has ruined the country.

Aoun’s visit to Assad – which raised more than one controversy in Lebanon among those who oppose “normalization” with Damascus – was also an opportunity to talk about Syrian refugees in Lebanese territory (and in Turkey) who have been waiting for years to return to your country. This is a long-standing issue, in which the leaders of Beirut and Ankara are interested in facilitating repatriation and Western governments (from Brussels to Washington) hold it back, citing fear of violence and abuse against those in at the time they opposed Assad or simply chose to emigrate. During the meeting, Aoun would have expressed to Assad his criticism of the “European position that is rejecting the return of the refugees” and that, on the contrary, is pressing to “integrate them into Lebanese society.” Brussels, the former president attacked in a press release, would be exerting “all kinds of pressure to prevent this return, alleging that they protect them from the Syrian regime.” On the contrary, Assad reiterated to Aoun that “Syria has always been and is ready to welcome its children,” adding that the issue must be addressed “through dialogue and cooperation between the two states.”