The two countries are hoping to establish a harmonious and friendly relationship.  Aoun also will talk with Syrian officials and leaders of Syrian’s Christian community while visiting these next five days. 

Aoun’s, visit has been criticized by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians who encouraged him to cancel his trip.  According to Aoun his animosity ended when Syrian troops left Lebanon in 2005.  Aoun, an acting prime minister and military commander in 1989 fount against Syrian troops in Lebanon.  One year later Syrian forces drove his troops out of their positions this forced him into exile in France.  In 2005 he returned home after Syria withdrew ending almost 30 years of domination of its smaller neighbor. 

Aoun later entered an alliance with the pro-Syrian Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in its confrontation against Lebanon’s Western-backed government.  Christian groups and Sunnis have criticized Aoun’s alliance with the Hezbollah.  The ties boosted Aoun’s standing within Lebanon’s powerful Shiite community allowing Hezbollah to state its opposition to the pro-Western government went beyond its Shiite base.  SANA, Syria’s state-run news agency quoted Aoun, “I am very happy with this visit and hope it will be the beginning of a bright period in the history of Syrian-Lebanese relations.”

After a two-hour meeting with Assad, Aoun told reporters at the presidential palace: "We spoke with open hearts and minds in order to clear the Lebanese-Syrian conscience. The person who clings to the past cannot build a future."

Aoun angered Syria in the past and when he testified against it in Washington and campaigned for the Syria Accountability Act The U.S. Congress passed the act in 2003 making accusation that Damascus sponsored terrorists and sought weapons of mass destruction. 

This visit on Wednesday comes six months before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. 

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