General Mad Max,A Syrian Trojan Horse, per excellence
by Nagi N. Najjar

Elie Hobeika, the architect of Sabra and Chatilla, is classified by many as a Syrian Trojan Horse in Lebanon. A master gangster-assassin, Damascus groomed him for years to serve its interests for the Lebanese Presidency. When the book " From Israel to Damascus" was published, it exposed Elie Hobeika's massacres, murders, and distortions in Lebanon, resulting in Hobeika's political legacy destruction, and Damascus had to get rid of him. He became a dangerous liability that could implicate Syria in many embarrassments . Emile Lahoud, our current President, a corrupted General in the Lebanese Army, coming politically from a better environment, hasn't committed any major crimes in the Lebanese war. Syria installed him as a good boy in power and manipulated him for years without setback, until Syrian Generals Assef Shawkat and Rustom Ghazali along with Bachar Assad instructions decided to eliminate Prime Minister Hariri of Lebanon. President Lahoud's Intelligence services were instrumental in instigating, surveiling, and covering up the evidence and the murder later on. For many analysts, President Lahoud, a Syrian agent in Lebanon, became a liability for Syria. His political existence was in danger for Syria -- therefore he has to be replaced. Damascus is actively looking for an acceptable "Christian" replacement and found crazy, retired Mad Max resting in Paris with over a 100 million dollar fortune he "accumulated" from his last war in Lebanon. President Lahoud's son and Kareem Pakradouni, another Syrian French speaking puppet, were rapidly dispatched to Paris to give the General guarantees to return to Lebanon and support President Lahoud and defend the "Christian" legacy of the Presidency in Lebanon. Within the context of many secret meetings that happened in Damascus in the past between the secret envoys of General Aoun and Walid Muallem, the newly Syrian appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (Former Syria's Ambassador to Washington), General Michel Aoun received the green light to return to Lebanon with a secret understanding to support President Lahoud's regime, recruit, neutralize, and divide the Christian street against the opposition. Hariri's murder accelerated Aoun's return as Syria was losing ground in Lebanon and Damascus found a substitute for President Lahoud and promised the General the Presidency. No one will surpass General Michel Aoun's record for supporting Syrian strategy in Lebanese politics. For the record: His Excellency General Aoun's relation with Syria is old news.Jan 15th 1986- Major Paul Matar rescues Elias Hobeika (a Syrian Stooge) on instructions from Aoun. General Aoun received a telephone call that day from the chief of staff of the Syrian Army, then General Hikmat Shehabi, urging him to save Hobeika. He saved Elie Hobeika's life from his Intelligence Headquarters in Beirut,1986, hiding him in the Ministry of Defence, and later on flew Hobeika to Cyprus from where he went to France and from Paris took the first plane to Damascus as the Syrian Army offered him a strong military base in the Bekaa Valley in the city of Zahleh. Hobeika started to send his spies and hit men to East Beirut with explosives and car bombs, and General Aoun trusted officers facilitated their passages on the checkpoints of East Beirut, a gesture from Aoun to appease and gain Damascus trust . 1987, Ashrafieh military incursion.He helped Hobeika's military incursion against East Beirut in 1987 against the Christian Lebanese Forces, he was constantly in contact over the telephone with Hobeika and Ghazi Kanaan (The Syrian Secret Service Chief) detailing to them what was the Army was going to do by order of former President Amine Gemayel and former then Ambassador Bartholomew. Gemayel asked the Army to interfere rapidly and secure the breach. Gen Aoun delayed the deployment of the Army for over 3 hours, coordinating the military momentum with Kanaan, and Hobeika giving enough time for Elie Hobeika to withdraw his men and join their Syrian controlled bases in West Beirut. Hobeika after this secret military operation was called by the Syrian political Hierarchy in Damascus, "Abu Ali " Hobeika, a promotion in the Syrian lexicon. 1988, Secret meeting in the city of Zahleh in the Bekaa Valley with Syrian intelligence . General Michel Aoun, Commander of the Army then, went to the city of Zahleh secretly without the knowledge of President Amine Gemayel and the head of Lebanese Military Intelligence, then General Simon Kassis. Aoun met secretly in Elie Hobeika's Headquarter (above the Restaurant Casino Monte Alberto) , with the vice President of Syria Abdel Halim Khaddam, Ghazi Kanaan the head of Syrian Intelligence in Lebanon, and Elie Hobeika assisted the meeting. The whole Command was emptied of Hobeika's partisans except for a few trusted lieutenants of Elie Hobeika on guard. Gemayel knew about this meeting later on along with few superior officers of the Lebanese Army. A large dispute occurred between them in the Presidential Palace, and in the last 2 hours of Amine Gemayel's Regime, Damascus called and imposed General Aoun on Lebanon as head of the interim Government.The War of Elimination 1990:This war was declared by General Aoun against the Christian Community and the Christian Lebanese Forces. He was promised the Presidency in the Arab summit then taking place in Tunis should he eliminate the "Israeli mechanism" of Lebanon, the Christian militia of the Lebanese Forces . The General received all his military logistics from a base of the Syrian Army in Dhour El Shouier (Mount Lebanon) to fight the Christians. He was helped by Assaad Hardane, (mastermind of President Bashir Gemayel's assassination). Hardane was head of the SSNP militia then, today they will meet together in the elected Parliament . Two days before the Syrian invasion of East Beirut, Hobeika smuggled and met secretly with General Aoun in the Presidential Palace and instructed Aoun to decline any Israeli help for Lebanon. Israel who had an emissary offering assistance in the Presidential palace was furious when it learned that Aoun declined any help from Jerusalem on Syrian orders.Today, the General is no different : Past and present, Michel Aoun is the Class A Syrian Trojan Horse par excellence for Lebanese politics. Damascus having lost most of its cards in the Lebanese puzzle after the murder of Rafic Hariri, wanted at all cost to stop its retreat from Lebanese politics and stop the progression of US influence in Lebanon's politics. Syria wanted to stop the US mechanism in Lebanon translated by the Hariri-Jumblatt alliance against Syria, and no better candidate would play the role of a divisive dynamic and neutralize the US role but Michel Aoun since Hezbollah is on the black list of international terrorism.. President Bachar el Assad played personally the card of General Aoun in Lebanon's recent politics. He made certain to boost General Aoun to a majority in the elections in the Christian underground in order to consolidate Syria's political power grip on the Christian community and weaken Washington's interference against Syria in Lebanon. Syria boosted his election in Mount Lebanon, along with Lebanese President Lahoud and Michel el Murr. President Assad of Syria dispatched General Aoun to Tripoli, North Lebanon to forge a political reconciliation between Christian Leader Suleiman Frangieh and Sunni Leader of Tripoli, Omar Karameh, Syria is definitely preparing Aoun for the Presidency for Lebanon. What is Syria up to? Syria main concern is to stop the Sunni-Druze progression in Lebanese politics that is supported by the United States, in this instance by boosting General Michel Aoun in the Parliament from one side and Hezbollah from the other side. Syria intends to neutralize the Sunni influence in the Lebanese Parliament, considered as an extension of American policy in Lebanon. By doing so, Syria will save its presence in Lebanese politics using two springboards, Michel Aoun and Nasrallah of Hezbollah who will keep the Americans at bay, with the blessing of a France who sides with the US cosmetic wise and substance wise hopes to make a return and diminish American power in the Middle East As for Syria, having a new Christian leadership on its side, together with the Shiaa leadership, it could stay on in Lebanon's politics long after the Americans are defeated in Iraq. Syria will organize for itself a forced "come back" on Lebanon's scene, and if Mad Max reject the Syrian momentum of that moment, Damascus will buy him a ticket to visit his old friend Elie Hobeika and look for a new candidate to replace him. For the blind Christians of Lebanon today, it is the moment of supporting the General fiesta.... The Charles de Gaulle of Lebanon........