Free Patriotic Movement leader and former General Michal Aoun made his much anticipated and highly controversial visit to Syria on Wednesday, landing in a Syrian plane at Damascus International Airport, where he was greeted by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Moqdad, who ushered him to Qasr al-Shaab for a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

Later on Wednesday, the controversial Maronite opposition leader spoke to the press, after being introduced by Syrian Minister of Expatriates Buthaina Shaaban.

Aoun said he was “very happy” to be in Damascus. “What was haram is now halal… We must remember, to ensure we do not repeat our mistakes. Hence, my talks with the [Syrian] president were very honest … Whoever stops at the past cannot build a future. Based on that, we called this meeting the open-heart surgery. We spoke from the heart and from the mind.”

While Aoun did not disclose details of the meeting, which he said was intended “to clear the Lebanese and Syrian consciences of the painful things of the past,” he did acknowledge that the missing persons file was not discussed with the Syrian president. “When it comes to the missing persons file, there are committees at work and we discussed this issue… Not so much negotiations, but a study of the names that were said to have entered Syria and what has become of them. Hopefully it will not be long before the results of this topic are announced,” Aoun said.

“We did not discuss issues in detail, but there is goodwill. As long as there is the will, as long as there is awareness and the rule of mind, we will find a solution to hanging issues that serves the benefit of both countries. I am not a minister nor am I president, but this is something I can preach to the Lebanese. President Assad and I can reassure the Lebanese and Syrian people,” Aoun continued.  “Man can only offer what he has. I have friendship to offer.”

Perhaps most notably, Aoun told reporters that before Lebanon could demand that Syria apologize for atrocities committed during its 15-year military occupation of its smaller neighbor, “those in Beirut” should apologize to their own people. “Did those in Beirut apologize? … Did they apologize to the Lebanese? … You must consider this meeting an honorary meeting and not an apology … [Apologies] start in Beirut.”

Aoun downplayed fears that Syria would meddle in the 2009 Lebanese parliamentary elections, insisting instead that Damascus was encouraging them. “I think it will not interfere in the elections in Lebanon,” Aoun said, before adding, in a veiled swipe at Saudi Arabia, “It is not giving out educational scholarships or tar. Syria does not pay money for our elections.”

“A plane flying at 60 km does not care for missiles flying at 40 km. They will not reach it,” Aoun said of his critics in Lebanon.

 The man who once waged a self-declared “War of Liberation” against Syria drew a distinction between Syria under Hafez al-Assad in 1990, and the country lead by Assad’s son in 2008, saying that the context and rulers had changed, and that the past enmity and disagreements were gone.

Asked how much he himself had changed in the last 20 years, Aoun said, “We have all changed. Our faces, our people have changed. It was an experience we all went through. Of course, there is ongoing adaptation to the situation in which one lives. Many species died out because they could not adapt… Physically, we are all the same. But morally, some people became extinct because they could not adapt.”

When pressed about Christian fears that Syria would “strike” before the 2009 elections, Aoun said, “Many of those who benefitted from Syria turned their backs on the Lebanese.” Aoun then listed Marada Movement chief Sleiman Franjieh and Metn stalwart Michel al-Murr as two Christian friends of Syria who remained loyal to it and were warmly accepted by the Lebanese as well. “Then we called for good relations with Syria and called on the Lebanese not to attack Syrian laborers in Lebanon. So any analyst analyzing the events knows that we were not enemies of Syria that turned into friends. I have a symbolism that is respected among Christians, and I am expressing [stances] on their behalf,” Aoun said.

The FPM leader, a known critic of the media, said, “The enmity is over. You are hung up on this word, with the media … At the end of the day, I am a military man – leader. I do not carry enmity, even toward those I am fighting. Even in wars with a victor and a vanquished, the end is negotiation and understanding. How, then, in our case, when we are starting a new chapter in history with no victor and no vanquished? … This is a new page.”

On the issue of Palestinian naturalization and their right to return, Aoun said, “Many countries have left this issue or are willing to negotiate. We hold firmly to this, and it is non-negotiable. Any negotiations on the right to return can only happen after the Palestinians agree to this.”

Aoun did, however, comment on the disputed Shebaa Farms area. “It is not a problem. Syria said the Shebaa Farms is Lebanese. There is the issue of delineation of the area, which can only happen after [Israeli] withdrawal. The UN is requesting delineation. Can this happen before withdrawal? ... If the UN wants to acknowledge, it can, for the maps are there and Syria is saying it is Lebanese… The sources of attestations of ownership in the area have the right to the area. This is a primitive issue, and there is no disagreement on it.”

Aoun said his visit also served to reassure Christians of the Middle East that they belonged in the area. “This is part of reconciliation. In Iraq, they have their bags packed. We are saying: unpack your bags. You belong here. Do not be afraid. We are breaking the fear that was built up over years.”

“Minister Buthaina Shaaban introduced me as a national leader. That is Syria’s perspective. But the Christians of the Middle East live in fear … this is how you should frame my address to the Christians…  I am reassuring the Christians of Syria … I am not taking them out of the society to gather them in my Christian nation. I am talking to all Christians, not just Maronites … We are not a diaspora left behind by the French or the English… The Christians are from this area: Saint Paul, Saint Maron… We are waking the Christians up to where their roots lie.”

To his Christian adversaries in Lebanon, who oppose the FPM’s alliance with Hezbollah and Aoun’s meeting with Bashar al-Assad, Aoun said, “We have to overcome fear, fear of ourselves, of others, of those evil ones who do not want good relations. Someone has to pay. These large steps that must be made cannot be made in fear of losing. We may lose the elections … but when you are facing such a large issue that stretches across the Middle East … they only think of the small, narrow horizon.”

Aoun also touched on relations with the US, which he said were like “changing weather … We are not enemies of the US. We have enmity with the positions of the US, so if there is change, as President Obama announced – real, strategic change of goals, ok … But if they maintain the same goals, we will not lose.”

“We are on our land and we will win. They do not know what they are doing and they will lose. The US has the power of despotism … So we advise them to go back to their land and their issues,” he said. 

Aoun was accompanied on the trip by a number of MPs from his Change and Reform bloc, including Ibrahim Kanaan, Nabil Nicolas, Farid al-Khazen, Abbas Hashim and former minister Sebouh Hovnanian.

-NOW Staff