Protesters in Majdel Aanjar , a Lebanese village close to the Syrian borders reportedly blocked the road between the Masnaa border crossing and Beirut to prevent the Syrian busses that will be carrying Syrian nationals who plan to join the Free Patriotic Movement on Sunday in its show of support for president Michel Aoun.
They reportedly set tires on fire to block the road .
President Aoun is the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement, while his son-in- law, caretaker FM Gebran Bassil is its current leader.
Aoun is a close ally of the Iranian backed Hezbollah militant group and the embattled Syrian president Bashar al Assad. Hezbollah helped Assad in his war against the protesters in Syria which resulted in the killing of over 500, 000 people while Aoun thru Bassil has been defending the Syrian regime at the Arab League summits. Syria was kicked out from the league following the 2011 uprising by Aoun is reportedly trying to convince the league to bring Syria back.
This is not the first time Syrians are bussed to Lebanon to help politicians who are loyal to the regime
It is not clear whether Aoun supporters are trying to compete with the mass uprising( in which millions of Lebanese hit the streets demanding the end of the sectarian system of government, new elections and a new government of technocrats ) by showing a huge number of supporters or they may be sending a message to the protesters that Aoun is not alone.
According to FPM sources Aoun will be setting many conditions for caretaker PM Saad Hariri if he will name him as the PM designate. Instead of a Technocratic government Aoun is leaning towards a techno political cabinet in which the so called sovereign cabinets will be held by politicians while the rest of the cabinet will be headed by technocrats.
According to an analyst the show of support at Baabda is probably aimed at inflating the number of Aoun supporters in order to strengthen his position during the consultations with the various parliamentary groups over the naming of a new PM and the subsequent formation of the cabinet .The analyst is also of the opinion that the protesters in Lebanon will only accept a technocratic government . “When they say ‘all they mean all ‘ the politicians should be out, ” he said
Update :
According to the following tweet about 30 busses from Aleppo and Damascus Syria showed up at Baabda’s show of support to president Michel Aoun
— Tania kfoury (@Taniakfoury1) November 3, 2019
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