Lebanese must unite against terrorism: Aoun

BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun called Monday on the Lebanese to stand united in the face of ISIS and Nusra Front militants who overran Lebanese territory and attacked the Lebanese Army in August.

Aoun also renewed his opposition to an extension of Parliament’s mandate and called for a new electoral law based on proportional representation.

“I call on everyone to stand united in confronting the forces that stormed our land and attacked our army,” Aoun said, addressing hundreds of supporters at the Congress Palace in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, at an annual ceremony known by the FPM as “the Oct. 13, 1990 anniversary.”

The speech marked 24 years since the Lebanese and Syrian armies evicted Aoun from the Presidential Palace in Baabda after he rejected the Taif Accord that ended the 1975-90 Civil War.

The Lebanese Army fought five days of pitched gun battles with ISIS and the Nusra Front in Arsal in early August after the two militant groups briefly seized the northeastern town. The militants are still holding 27 soldiers and policemen hostage after releasing seven and killing three.

“Lebanon is facing imminent dangers. It has been flooded with a huge number of [Syrian] refugees which even Big Powers cannot sustain,” Aoun said. “There are also parts of Lebanese territory occupied by terrorist groups.”

Aoun, who had served as Army commander, said: “The Army battle on Oct. 13 [1990 against the Syrian Army] remained the most symbolic because it was a battle for sovereignty, freedom and independence. Force imposed a de facto matter, but our resistance confirmed our right to Lebanon’s existence.”

“Unfortunately, the people who came to power had never ruled under these values and they moved from one [foreign] tutelage to another,” he added.

After his eviction from Baabda, Aoun and his family took shelter at the French Embassy in Beirut before a deal was reached that allowed Aoun to spend 15 years in exile in France.

Aoun argued that under Syria’s domination of Lebanon that followed the Taif Accord, the Christian president was stripped of his prerogatives.

“The president became a protocol president instead of being a president who can bring about accord [among the Lebanese] and preserve the Constitution,” he said.

Aoun argued that Parliament and the presidency lacked true representation. He called for a new electoral law based on proportional representation to ensure fairness.

“There is a group that wants to impose the choice of the president and rejects the amendment of the law to elect a president,” he added.

Aoun’s proposal to elect the president directly by the people instead of by lawmakers has been rejected by the March 14 coalition.

The FPM leader, who has vowed to reject a new extension of Parliament’s term, which expires on Nov. 20, said: “There is a [parliamentary] majority that had extended its mandate in Parliament [in May last year] and is telling us of a new extension.”