Aoun, Junblat renew rejection of the Syrian presence in Lebanon
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 1/25/2005

Two main figures of the Lebanese opposition Maj. Gen. Michael Oun and the Druz leader Walid Junblat on Monday stressed their cling on the need of the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon. This was a reaction to the announcement made by the Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara that his country's forces will stay in Lebanon for two years.

Aoun said that nobody asked the Lebanese if they agree on the continued presence of the Syrian forces for two more years, stressing the need of knowing justifications for the presence of the Syrian forces for two more years and that "discussion is currently concentrating on conditions in which withdrawal will be made." Worthy mentioning that Aoun who lives in his exile in Paris, strongly supports UN resolution 1559 which was approved in September 2004 and implicitly states full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.

Aoun considered that the redeployment of the Syrian forces in the Bekaa ( east) area according to Taif accord for national reconciliation ( 1989) is meaningless, as he alleged.

For his part, the Druz leader Walid Junblat stressed his rejection of the presence for the Syrian forces in Lebanon for two additional years, stressing his rejection of what he called the Syrian supremacy over Lebanon.

Worthy mentioning that Junblat has been for 15 years one of the main pillars for the Syrian influence in Lebanon.

On Sunday, the Syrian foreign minister stressed in a statement to the CNN that the Syrian forces in Lebanon might stay there for only two years, despite the UN security council resolution 1559 which calls for its withdrawal.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Shara: the Syrian forces might stay in Lebanon about two years   (1/24/2005)
  Hizbullah UNSC criticizes 1559 resolution   (1/17/2005)
  Lebanese foreign minister and resolution 1559   (1/17/2005)

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