Until he allied himself with Hezbollah , in 2006 Aoun was very critical of Syria and its allies in Lebanon including Hezbollah.
March 14 alliance is viewing the visit to Syria as part of Aoun's 2009 election campaign. Syrian newspapers have been praising Aoun and calling him the leader of the Christians in the Middle East, similarly Aoun has lavished Syria with praise calling it the cradle of Christianity in the Middle East. Informed sources say that Hezbollah is pressuring Aoun over the formation of the electoral list. The same sources stressed that Aoun would urge Damascus to intervene and persuade its allies to stay away from pressuring him to adopt certain names on his election list.
March 14 alliance is questioning the sudden rush by politicians to visit Syria despite the fact that Syria has put on hold all discussions regarding diplomatic relations, missing Lebanese in Syrian jails and the demarcation of the Syrian borders
Monday
23:05 Abu Jamra: Aoun's visit to Syria is to serve Lebanon's interest. The Lebanese are trying to reclaim the keys of Beirut in the upcoming elections
22:42 Dori Chamoun told Future TV: Aoun is free to go wherever he wishes , but on the other hand the majority of the Christians are now convinced that they erred in supporting him because of his flip flop attitude towards Syria
22:01 PM Siniora returne from Doha this evening after participating in the international conference for financing the projects of Doha
21:22 Ghattas Khoury told Future TV: march 8 are required to cooperate with the Hariri tribunal and I don’t think this issue is negotiable
20:18n Former US president Jimmy carter is expected to visit Lebanon on December 9th . his accompanying delegation is arriving this coming Wednesday to prepare for his visit
19:19 Finance Minister Shatah will meet with Minister Najjar tomorrow morning to discuss the budget
18:53 MP Saad Hariri and Central Bank Governor Riad Salamah met to discuss the economy
18:20 Information Minister tarek Mitri meets US ambassador to Lebanon Michel Sison
17:44 a truck transporting 2o detainees overturned in Kahhaleh. The road was immediately closed and the injured ls were traken to the nearby hospitals
17:40 The Phalange party: The Responses to the speech of former president Amin Gemayel proved once again that there are 2 Lebanons. A Lebanon that is free and sovereign and a Lebanon that is following outside orders. This is in refrence to Hezbollah's alliance with Syria and Iran
17:17 Aoun: I am not going to Syria to study the files of the missing Lebanese , this is the job of the government !!
17:05 pm: Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh left to Oslo to participate in the signing of the Dublin agreement for the use and storing of cluster bombs, Salloukh said prior to leaving: There is a huge international mobilization for signing the agreement .
17:00 : Gen Aoun following a meeting of the Change and Reform Parliamentary Bloc: The issue of missing Lebanese in Syria should have been solved one week following the end of civil war in 1990....They are fighting us over our visit to Syria, let them review history, for when we say it is the cradle of Christianity we mean that in the historic and not the political sense.Tensions at universities are not normal.
16:15: Second round of economic discussions held in Qoraitem and was headed by MP Saad Hariri, who also met with Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.
15:40 : UNIIIC Head Daniel Bellemare met with Judge Saeed Merza prior to presenting his report to UN Secretary-General in the coming few hours.
13:50 PM Siniora met in Doha Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani.
13:25 The Administrative and Justice Committee held a session under MP Robert Ghanem at the Parliament.
1:20 Preliminary interrogation of detainees held on charges of attacking Future TV reporter Omar Harqous will end today.
12:50 Judge Saqr Saqr listened to testimonies of three witnesses in the Hariri assassination case.
12:10 President Michel Suleiman presided over a ministerial meeting to set an agenda for his trip to Germany.
11:58 Central Africa PM upon arrival at Beirut airport: The Lebanese make a strong community and contribute to building a prosperous Africa.
11:55 Army Communiqué denied as “baseless” media reports attributed to army commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji about the expected supplies of military equipment by Syria to the Lebanese army.
10:30 Minister Ali Qanso told al-Manar TV: Syria is in no need to return to Lebanon. It stood alongside the Lebanese army in its war against terrorism in Nahr al-Bared. He did not explain how.
10:24 MP Samir Franjieh told Future News on Monday that that there was deterioration in the diplomatic exchange between Lebanon and Syria,on the issues of missing persons in Syria and demarcation of borders. He added that the Syrian regime has returned to its old dictatorial habits in dealing with Lebanon.
10:18 MP Samir Jisr told Future TV: Syrian behavior toward Lebanon is abnormal. We are observing a snag on the issues of diplomatic exchange, missing Lebanese in Syrian jails and border demarcation.
10:18 State Minister Jean Ogassapian said that the victory of the March 14-affiliated candidates in student and syndicate elections demonstrated unity and commitment to the principles of the Cedar Revolution and showed that March 14 would win the 2009 parliamentary elections. He added, the cabinet was informed about Kahwaji’s visit , but not about the purpose and the results. We should know this in the upcoming cabinet meeting
8:50 MP Marwan Hamadeh told VOL: There is a rush (by Lebanese officials) to do some visits that have clear agendas.
8:16am Fatfat: Political speeches were triggered by the approach of the international tribunal.
8:15 MP Ahmed Fatfat told VOL: We have no problem with any visit to a (Syrian public) institution as long as it is coordinated by the (Lebanese) government. .... Political speeches were triggered by the approach of the international tribunal.
Sunday
22:02 Sujaan Al Azzi, adviser of former President Amin Gemayel told New TV: Gemayel did not call for the establishment of federalism in Lebanon, as Hezbollah is claiming . Azzi added "the huge crowd that attended the celebrations proved that the Phalange party is not a burden on March 14 but a valuable member of the alliance"
20:03 : PM Siniora following his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon: We welcome the news about the International Tribunal . Lebanon will no longer be a country where crimes are committed without accountability.
20:00 : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon following his meeting with PM Siniora: International Tribunal is ready, will begin its work on March 1st ; UNIIIC will gradually move from Beirut to Hague.
19:04 Palestinian leader Sultan Abul Alaynine said that Abdel Rahman Awad has not left the camp and steps are being taken to close the file on this matter, even if force will be needed because it is an embarrassment for the camp
18:45 PM Saniora has urged world leaders in Doha qatar to confront corruption: "Advanced and developed nations are to equally confront corruption and illegal inflow of funds," Siniora said Sunday at the International Conference on Financing for Development in the Qatari capital. He added : "In Lebanon, through truly correct economic policies that were designed for confronting specific circumstances in our country, in addition to united efforts by the Central Bank and cabinet, we managed to protect our banking and financial systems from the crisis."
18:40 Phalange party ( Kateeb) responded to Hezbollah criticism of Gemayel speech in a statement on Sunday: “They say we are war seekers, where did they see that in our speech? “Where did they read [about] fanaticism? The statement asked. “The results at Lebanese universities confirmed what we have been saying ,"the statement added.
16:50 : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held discussions in Damascus with French envoys Claude Gueant and Jean-David Levitte. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress made in Lebanese-Syrian relations.
16:27 The Ethiopians ( Men and women) are the biggest winners in the Blom Beirut Marathon 2008 race in which 63 Arab and foreign countries were represented and more than 30 thousand men and women participated
15:50 A huge demonstration near Fatimah gate in south Lebanon organized by Hezbollah women in solidarity with Gaza residents . Heavy presence of the army and the UNIFIL forces are to ensure the security of the gathering
15:45: al -Mustaqbal News: Sweeping victory for March 14 Forces at Pharmacists Syndicate elections.
15:36 Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh: The banking sector in Lebanon has survived the global financial crisis and is turning it into a profit due to the policy of the Central Bank. The assets of the private banks in Lebanon is more than U.S. $ 100 billion, which is 4 times the gross national product ( GNP)