Michel Aoun, a prominent Lebanese Christian leader who fought the bloody battle and lost with Syrian troops nearly two decades ago received a red carpet welcome by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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.
The main election battles it is believed will be in the Christian regions over the seats Aoun controls. In 2009 the votes could determine who wins a parliament majority and forms the government. Perhaps some Christians won’t back him because their mood is not pro-Syrian.
Christian Web News - Friday afternoon, June 26, a man on a bicycle attacked Operation Rescue's national headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, and attempted to disable the security system. There were four people working in the office at the time.
Christian Web News - T.D. Jakes pastor of the Dallas mega church The Potter's House says that his last-minute change of plans is what saved him from being killed in a natural gas explosion that occured at his home.
Christian Web News - With the help of some 350 local churches over 30,000 people attended Franklin Graham’s first festival in the eastern European country of Estonia last weekend.
Christian Web News - Pastor Dou Shaowen and his wife Feng Lu of Rock (Panshi) Church in Zhengzhou city, Henan, were sentenced to one year of re- education through labor for "engaging in illegal religious activities."
Christian Web News - With more than 10 million people in Kenya facing starvation due to drought and political unrest, World Gospel Mission (WGM) is helping Christians in the United States get much-needed food supplies to the hardest hit areas.
Christian Web News - The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com , regarding President Obama's nomination of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court:
Christian Web News - President Barack Obama has nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U. S. Supreme Court as a replacement for retiring Justice David Souter. Operation Rescue will oppose Sotomayor's nomination as being unfit for the nation's highest court.
Christian Web News - The newly elected Indian government, led by the moderate Congress party, is taking a strong stand against anti-conversion legislation that has restricted religious freedom in the nation. They plan to block bills introduced in a number of states by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This is very encouraging news for Christians and other minorities in the nation.
Christian Web News - Thousands of Christians living in relief camps in Orissa were among the first to vote in India's national elections. India's four-week-long election kicked off April 16 in Orissa, India, where thousands of families were left homeless after violence last fall.
Christian Web News - Walt Kallestad, senior pastor of Community Church of Joy , Glendale, AZ, told Church Executive that the movement within his ELCA denomination to allow gay ordained clergy will not be accepted by his congregation or school.
Christian Web News - In one of Wednesday morning’s sessions at the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, SBC president, Johnny Hunt, appointed eighteen people to the “Great Commission Resurgence Task Force” as requested by the messengers to the SBC.
Christian Web News - Children's Secretary of Britain accepted a report in full last week that could change the face of homeschooling in Britain indefinitely. In the report, the author, Graham Badman, Chair of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA), argues for an end to homeschool freedom.
Christian Web News - Court battles over The First Amendment and the Establishment Clause are nothing new. But lately, these battles have been increasingly coming from the kindergarten classroom.
Christian Web News - In Pt.1 we primarily discussed the law of sowing. We talked about the seed and how God ordained seed to have life in itself from the very beginning starting in the book of Genesis. We also discussed how the whole purpose of the seed was to produce after its own kind.
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
According to the scriptures, if you do miss the rapture, God forbid, that does not mean that you have a ticket to sin because you are going to hell anyway.
Christian Web News - At a time when greed and corruption seem to run rampant and morals seem nonexistent, many people wonder where to look for role models.
For the millions of junior high, high school and college students heading back to school, the idea of returning to the classroom may be met with mixed emotions.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.''
What an incredible statement. If it wasn't said by the Lord Jesus Himself then it might be a little hard to swallow, but here it is in black and white for all who will receive.