General Aoun’s Liberation War
As Amine Gemayel’s term of office expires, he appoints the then commander of the Lebanese army, General Michel Aoun, as interim military government, with a view to organizing elections. However, the latter is not supported by the United States or even by Damascus, which supports the Salim Hoss government, which has resigned.
Calling for the withdrawal of Syrian troops in order to organize legislative elections to renew a chamber whose mandate has been extended since 1972 and faced with the refusal of Damascus, General Aoun launched a war of liberation in 1989.
This war will be a failure in military terms but will place Lebanon all the same on the front of the world map, with questions as to the legitimacy of the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
A committee made up of King Hussein of Jordan, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and President Chadli Bendjedid of Algeria culminate in a comprehensive ceasefire and a parliamentary meeting to discuss “national reconciliation” that will have held in Taif, Saudi Arabia. The deputies will sign – on strong suspicions of corruption, some deputies returning to Lebanon evoking a proposed sum of 100,000 USD per signatory – then the Taif agreements which will remove all the prerogatives of the presidency of the republic to entrust them to the council of ministers.
General Aoun refuses the agreement and dissolves the Lebanese Parliament. During the establishment of the Taif agreement, some Lebanese opponents denounce it, being according to them signed at the height of the Syrian occupation and by a Parliament not reelected for nearly 15 years.
At the same time, René Moawad will be elected President of the Republic. However, he will be assassinated 17 days later and will be replaced by Elias Hraoui, considered close to Damascus.
In addition, fighting will break out between the Lebanese Army of General Aoun and the Lebanese Forces over the control of illegal ports.
The Lebanese file will be definitively entrusted to Damascus following the support of Hafez el Assaf against Iraq during the Gulf war. Thus, if Syrian troops are present in Saudi Arabia to liberate Kuwait, they will also intervene in Lebanon, on October 13, 1990 against the reduction of “legality”.
From then on, the local media will evoke the double SS tutelage, namely Syria and Saudi Arabia.
