Exiled anti-Syrian leader returns to Beirut

Anti-Syrian leader Michel Aoun returned to Beirut today from 14 years’ exile in France – to a crowd of cheering supporters at the airport and less than two weeks after Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon.

Aoun, arriving from Paris on a special Middle East Airlines flight with about 100 aides, waved to a small crowd as he emerged from the plane with his wife Nadia and two aides and flanked by bodyguards.

Thousands more supporters, many waving Lebanon’s red, white and green flag, crammed downtown Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square, cheering wildly as a giant TV screen showed Aoun, wearing a Western business suit, descending a flight of stairs from the plane before receiving bouquets of flowers.

Supporters have planned a mass rally for Aoun at the square later today.

Aoun, a one-time army commander and interim prime minister, lost a “war of liberation” against Syrian forces in 1989-90.

He took refuge at Lebanon’s French Embassy and was sent into exile in France. An arrest warrant against him was dropped earlier in the week, clearing the way for his return.

It followed the April 26 completion of the Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon. Syria pulled its forces out under relentless international pressure that intensified after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.