Jumblat Suggests 'Political Safety Net,' Hariri's Return

Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat has warned that all of Lebanon's factions were facing a terrorist threat, saying the rival Lebanese parties should overcome their divisions and al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri should return to Beirut.

Officials close to Jumblat told As Safir newspaper published on Friday that the PSP leader is seeking to create a “political safety net,” under which all parties would end their differences and focus on their mutual interests.

They said Jumblat believes that Hariri's return to Beirut as soon as possible is one of the solutions to confront terrorism.

The former prime minister left Lebanon in early 2011, months after the collapse of his national unity cabinet. He has repeatedly claimed that security reasons were preventing his return to Beirut.

Jihadists from Syria overran the border town of Arsal over the weekend. But on Thursday they mostly withdrew back across the rugged hills separating the two countries.

The seizure of Arsal along with the advance of extremists on many Iraqi cities has raised fears on a similar scenario in Lebanon.

The extremists are at war with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government forces and with the peshmerga forces of the Kurdish autonomous region of the country.

In late June, the Islamic State proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling rebel-held areas of Syria and Iraq and seized the major city of Mosul. In recent days, it has seized towns formerly populated by Christians and Yazidis.

As part of his initiative to avert another militant incursion into Lebanon, Jumblat visited Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last month. He also held talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in Rabieh on Tuesday.

The PSP chief was among several senior officials who met at the residence of former President Michel Suleiman in Yarze on Tuesday night.

The meeting was attended by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Prime Minister Tammam Salam and head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora.

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