LEBANON’S most prominent anti-Syrian leader, a Christian militia general who returned at the weekend after 14 years in France, has underlined the fragmented nature of the opposition before elections due this month.

Despite a rapturous welcome by thousands of supporters, General Michel Aoun, 70, said that he had not been approached by any anti-Syrian politicians.

“Until now, I haven’t heard,” he said yesterday. “I assume silence after a certain period means rejection.”

He had been in Lebanon for only a few hours when he angered his opposition colleagues by suggesting that Syria withdrew its troops two weeks ago because of his lobbying overseas. Most Lebanese think that it was the murder in February of Rafik Hariri, a former Prime Minister, and the subsequent street protests that prompted Syria to pull out.

General Aoun said, however, that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which he had helped to push through, was the “driving factor”. General Aoun said: “Hariri was aware of this and I believe he was assassinated for contributing to this effort.”

To play down Hariri’s death in propelling the events of the past three months is tantamount to sacrilege in Lebanon. Walid Jumblatt, an opposition leader, said that the withdrawal “was brought about altogether by Hariri’s blood, not by the returning tsunami”, referring to General Aoun.

The general had been greeted by about 25,000 people in Martyrs’ Square in Beirut on Saturday, many wearing orange, the colour adopted by the Aounists. His supporters compared the event to Charles de Gaulle’s return to Paris in 1944.

“I return as the sun of liberty shines anew to rebuild, together, a new Lebanon,” General Aoun said. “Minds must be changed and we must get rid of the political feudalism and religious system that dates back to the 19th century.”

His popularity among Christians stems mainly from his quixotic military campaign against the Syrian Army in 1990. The Syrians inflicted a crushing defeat on his forces which brought an end to the 16-year civil war. General Aoun fled to the French Embassy and the following year was whisked to France by submarine.

His appeal also extends to many Muslims who support his efforts to rid Lebanon of sectarianism.

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