General Aoun, as always,
is unfazed by the critics. “You could say I brought Lebanese politics
back to life,” General Aoun, 71, said in his home atop the hills
overlooking Beirut. “Until now, politics here has been moribund.”
General Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and a handful of
smaller groups began their protests on Dec. 1, accusing Mr. Siniora of
corruption that has left the country tens of billions in debt, and
saying that the current government is not representative of Lebanon’s
new realities.
The opposition wants Mr. Siniora either to step down or to broaden his
cabinet to allow them greater say and even a veto power, but Mr.
Siniora has rebuffed the demands, and insists he will not step down.
Government officials accuse the opposition of pursuing an
Iranian-Syrian agenda.
The irony of General Aoun, who has spent much of his life fighting
Syrian domination of Lebanon, joining hands with Hezbollah, with its
close ties to Syria, is not lost on his opponents, nor on followers in
protests against the government. But such about-faces are nothing new
to him.
TWO decades ago General Aoun rose to prominence as the head of the
Christian-led Lebanese Army, taking on the Christian militias and the
Syrians. He was appointed Lebanon’s interim prime minister in a
caretaker government and waged a fierce revolt against Syrian forces,
before being bombed out of the presidential palace and into exile in
France in 1990. Keeping to his word, he did not return to Lebanon until
the last Syrian soldier had left the country.
General Aoun defends his ties to Hezbollah, saying the alliance will
ward off Syria rather than allow it to return to Lebanon. He adds that
he had always pledged that he would seek friendly relations with Syria
once it ceased to be an occupier. But many accuse him of trying to ride
the wave of Hezbollah’s popularity after the war last summer in order
to win the presidency when the pro-Syrian President Émile
Lahoud’s term ends later this year. The 34-day war was widely seen here
as a victory for Hezbollah.
General Aoun makes no secret of his hope to become president, a role
reserved for Christians in Lebanon’s complex sectarian political
system. But many doubt whether he would make the best compromise
candidate, one who would effectively smooth over tensions once the
latest crisis of sit-ins and boycotts ends.
“Of course, I want to be president,” he said. “At first I was not that
interested, but because there was so much stubbornness against me and
because things got difficult, I am now intent on becoming president. I
have the backing and popularity to do it.” He has drawn his supporter
base from the Christian middle class, which sees itself losing ground
to Lebanon’s other sects.
Unlike many in Lebanon’s political stratum, General Aoun comes from
humble origins, having been born into a poor Maronite family in Haret
Hreik, which became a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs
in the 1980s. His supporters play up that background, saying that it
equips him to tackle issues like corruption, gerrymandering and
inclusion in Lebanese politics.
“For us, he represents sovereignty and dignity,” said Gebran Bassil, a
longtime member of General Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement who is also
married to the general’s daughter. “The general is not part of the
corrupt system here, which is why the politicians are so much against
him.”
Nayla Mouawad, Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, said she was
struck by General Aoun’s ability to distill politics into slogans when
she first met him in the mid-1980s, but long ago caught on to his
oversize ambition. “He clearly wanted to be president,” she said,
noting that she once warned her husband, René, who was
assassinated in 1989, to be wary of General Aoun’s intentions. “I told
my husband that when he gets it into his head to be president, be
careful.”
FEW, however, expected the alliance with Hezbollah, a group that, on
the surface, appears diametrically opposed to the Free Patriotic
Movement’s goals.
Backed by Iran, Hezbollah is the sole remaining armed militia in
Lebanon; General Aoun is the champion of a strong state and an opponent
of militias. General Aoun rails against foreign interference in
Lebanon, but Hezbollah is almost completely financed by Iran.
General Aoun notes that the alliance should not be treated any
differently than one between Hezbollah and the governing coalition that
helped them garner numerous seats in the 2005 elections.
Still, the alliance surprised General Aoun’s supporters as much as his
opponents.
“Remember, Hezbollah was the devil a year and a half ago as far as we
were concerned,” Mr. Bassil said. “We were the only side that had had
no dialogue with them.”
Last year, General Aoun approached Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan
Nasrallah, and said he still intended to strip Hezbollah of its
weapons, but only after the group’s main complaints with Israel and
with the government were answered.
“It’s not like I love Hezbollah,” General Aoun said in an interview. “I
am not trying to defend Hezbollah as much as I am trying to find a
solution with them, because a clash with them would ruin us.”
That honesty, Hezbollah officials say, engendered trust in General
Aoun. “It created a sense of trust between Shiites and Christians,”
said Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a member of Hezbollah’s politburo. “We don’t
want to establish an Islamic republic, we want diplomatic and normal
relations with Syria, and we want a consensual democracy and so does
the Free Patriotic Movement.”
Some analysts credit the alliance with helping stabilize conditions in
Lebanon after the war, as well as helping to change Hezbollah’s focus
from regional issues to local ones.
“It helped show Hezbollah’s real position and its understanding of
Lebanon,” Mr. Abu Zeinab said. “It helped the party appear as a more
Lebanese party than it used to before.”
After years of playing third seat to Sunnis and Christians, Lebanon’s
Shiites have increasingly demanded a greater say in government, one
proportional to their numbers. General Aoun had seized on that change,
analysts agree.
Still, even his supporters are often uncomfortable with the alliance,
and with the lack of progress of the demonstrations so far.
“If I was in their place I might not feel comfortable with how things
are going either,” General Aoun said. “But I have infrared — even
infragreen. I can see what is ahead of me tomorrow, and I will
eventually clarify things for them.”
Nada Bakri contributed reporting.
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