Aoun attributes Syrian withdrawal to his stances, Junblat criticizes
The former leader of the Lebanese army Michael Aoun chose a heated beginning for his life in Lebanon after 15 years in his exile in Paris, and he called for eliminating what he called the political feudalism and the hated sectarianism.
In front of thousands of his supporters gathered at the martyrs square in the downtown of Beirut, Aoun said that he will not visit the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud because he represents the country which had oppressed him as he alleged.
He added that his stand constitutes the main reason for the pullout of the Syrian forces from Lebanon, and that the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri resulted in accelerating this pullout. He said that what he had described as the process of liberation started in 2003 with the issuance of the Syria Accountability Act by the US congress.
Aoun stressed that members of the free national trend, which he leads, will enter parliamentary elections by the end of the current month. He did not say he will enter the elections himself, but loomed he will seek presidency.
Upon his arrival at the martyrs square, Aoun headed to the tomb of the late Lebanese Prime minister al-Hariri and announced he will be also visiting the commander the banned Lebanese forces party Samir Jaajaa in his prison.
This massive people's reception has not prevented the opposition from having differences with the former army leader. His statements provoked criticism especially by the Druz leader Walid Junblat who described Aoun as a Tsunami arriving back to Lebanon.
The former Lebanese army leader returned back after the judiciary decided last week to suspend the law related to his detention after dropping accusations addressed to him issued in 1999 of violating the state security, the national unity and the constitution and stealing state's assets.
In 1988 Aoun launched a war against the Syrian forces in Lebanon before he was taken out of the republican palace in Baabda in a Syrian- Lebanese joint military operation after which he was obliged to resort for the French embassy which he had left for Paris in 1990.