Jumblat: Lebanon Should Keep Quiet over Syria Instead of Proposing Solutions to Crisis
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Monday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s position on the Syrian crisis, saying that it is harming Lebanon’s credibility.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “If only Lebanon’s envoy at the Arab League meetings would remain silent over the Syrian crisis instead of proposing solutions to the unrest.”
He added that Lebanon should also maintain its position of distancing itself from the Syrian developments instead of suggesting solutions to the crisis.
Addressing the Arab observer mission to Syria, he compared it to a similar international observer mission that was sent to monitor the situation in Kosovo in the past.
The MP noted that the number of observers to Syria should have been greater than those that headed to Kosovo seeing as the Arab country is much larger than the European one.
Jumblat also wondered if the Arab observers are even qualified enough to be fulfilling their mission.
Furthermore, he stated: “Syria is likely headed towards more violence, which will gradually lead to a civil war, because of the ongoing oppression and repeated rejection of all initiatives to end the crisis.
The PSP leader also praised the recent Alawite intellectuals’ statement that sought to distance the sect from the Syrian regime’s practices.
Alawite intellectuals denounced last week what they said are efforts by the Syrian government and parts of the opposition to link their sect to the regime, warning against the consequences of casting a popular uprising for civil rights in a sectarian light.
Jumblat wondered when the predominantly Druze residents of Jabal al-Arab in Syria would take a similar stand.
He noted the residents’ revolt against foreign powers, such as the French mandate in the 20th century, and asked: “Should the oppression of outsiders be confronted, while that committed by fellow Syrians be disregarded?”
“We salute the few voices from Jabal al-Arab that have spoken against the Syrian regime and reject attempts by some of its leaders to cover up the crimes being committed against the Syrian people,” he added.
“Isn’t it time for Druze soldiers to reject orders to kill their Syrian brothers in Homs, Hama, Idlib, and other regions?” wondered the MP.
Addressing Iran's Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s recent statements on Lebanon and Iraq, Jumblat said: “It would have been better had he not made such remarks. They go to demonstrate the need to return to the national dialogue to devise a defense strategy for the country in manner that would take advantage of the resistance’s capabilities in confronting Israel.”
“We reject attempts to turn Lebanon once again into an open ground for settling regional and international disputes and praise Moqtada al-Sadr’s rejection that Iraq become an open ground for other people’s wars,” he said.
Soleimani said last week that the people of southern Lebanon and Iraq are under the effect of Iran’s “way of practice and thinking.”
Commenting on the Syria’s kidnapping of three Lebanese fishermen on Sunday and murder of one of them, the Druze leader stated: “We hope the Lebanese army would control the situation along the land and maritime borders in a manner that would prevent the repetition of such incidents.”
“This development also highlights the need for demarcating Lebanon’s border with Syria, which was approved during the national dialogue in the past,” Jumblat stressed.
Source: Naharnet
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