A little bit further, on the terrace of a café, the 72 year-old Mohamed smiled when he heard the name “Sarkozy”. “He will never let us fall. Even if he went to Syria, the French President will always support Lebanon”, he asserts. Jacques Chirac visited Syria twice in 1996 and 2002. However, in 2005, after the assassination of his “friend” Rafic Hariri, the former French President decided to end all the relations with Damascus, which is accused by the West to be behind the attack that killed the Lebanese former Prime Minister. Nowadays, Nicolas Sarkozy wants to act differently from his predecessor and “open his arms” to Syria by allowing it progressively to normalize its relations with the International Community.

In the heart of the Sunni community, this return announced from Damascus could therefore be considered as an abandonment of France. As for Tarek, he refuses to see things that way and prefers to hope for a calm situation in his country. “This visit is an excellent thing for the whole Middle East because it can launch a sustainable peace in the Arab countries”, he predicted.