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Originally Posted by Greg Davis  Is that so............
When was the last time these detainees were mentioned by an FPM official?
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Originally Posted by TAYYAR AL AOUNI Feb 08, 2008:
Aoun: The [Lebanese] state should handle this issue with the [Syrian] state, and there should be an investigation about the issue of those kidnapped. This issue should be settled; those who were killed should be announced as dead, those who were kidnapped should be announced as kidnapped, and those who are imprisoned should return. This issue should have been resolved prior to the withdrawal of the Syrian regime.
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Aoun: We don’t have any official capacity to solve the problem of the detainees in Syria.
Nasrallah: The government is responsible of the dossier of the detainees in Syria, for it had refused to establish a joint committee with the Syrians in this regard.
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March 14, 2008:
Deputy Salim Salhab
Speaking for the FPM, Salhab insisted that neither Aoun nor the party had forgotten those left behind in Syria. “In our Memorandum of Understanding, we asked Hezbollah to mention the detainees in Syrian prisons as well as those in Israel,” he pointed out. He blamed the government of Fouad Siniora, and before him, the governments of Omar Karami and Rafik Hariri, for not securing the return of the prisoners from both Syria and Israel.
“Of course, I admit that there are certain problems and that there are many things that I haven’t forgiven Syria for. But, [the return of the prisoners] should happen in a state-state relationship and not separately, on an individual basis,” argued Salhab. The return of prisoners, the FPM believes, should be secured by negotiations after the Lebanese government has been reformed and relations between Syria and Lebanon have been normalized. “We didn’t forget, and there are a number of MPs following this up with the follow-up committee,” he said.
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26 April 2008:
General Michel Aoun: ruling group waited until the Syrians had left to begin hostilities
Change and Reform bloc and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP General Michel Aoun spoke to Orange Television to mark the third anniversary of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon.
He slammed the ruling group for waiting until the Syrians had left to begin hostilities and "declare war on Syria when it left Lebanon. Had they been brave they would have confronted Syria on Lebanese terrain."
"After Syrian withdrawal in April 2005, we were surprised that some Lebanese politicians were chasing the Syrians to Damascus and continuing to attack the Syrian regime," General Aoun said.
"It would have been much better had they opposed Syria during its presence in Lebanon. Back then, they used to describe the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon as necessary, legitimate, and temporary."
"When I called for a war of liberation it was aimed at liberating Lebanon's land and I said that by achieving this goal the war would end."
"The goal has been achieved. So what is the reason for proceeding with the battle?" General Aoun asked.
"We have no interest but in building future relations, and we shouldn't be in collision with them. The relationship between the Lebanon and Syria should be neighbourly and brotherly," he stressed.
Regarding the fate of Lebanese prisoners in Syrian jails, Aoun said the Lebanese government was to blame for not finding a solution.
General Aoun said Fouad Siniora's Government "rejects calls to look for those missing in their land (buried in mass graves), that is why we cannot hold Syria responsible first" for the Lebanese missing in its jails.
"The government should find those buried in its land and the government is capable of doing this because there is no village that does not know the location of its mass grave and who is responsible for it, be they Palestinians or Lebanese militias. The government knows, the intelligence agencies know and many journalists know where the mass graves are," Aoun added.
He said a "minority" of those held in Syria had been held directly by the Syrian forces. The majority were either arrested by Lebanese police or held by pro-Syrian factions and turned on to the Syrians.
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In addition, our continual support of S.O.L.I.D.E. |
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On a different side to the issue, you might also want to have a look at the following:
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Originally Posted by TAYYAR AL AOUNI |