Jumblat Accuses Syrian Regime of Assassination Plot

After doubts that an assassination plot could be planned against him, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat pointed the finger at the Syrian regime saying it is the “primary suspect” behind such a plot, As Safir daily reported Thursday.

Jumblat said he believes that the “biggest winner who will benefit from my assassination is the Syrian regime which has grown stronger after the field developments on the battlefront in Syria,” he told the daily.

“In compliance with the security advice, I am residing most of the time at Moukhtara. If it was not for a minor surgery that I had to take in one of my eyes, I would not have come to my residence in Clemenceau in such circumstances,” he went on to say.

The MP revealed that a while ago some “serious official security agencies” have warned him to take precautions which compelled him to limit his movement. He asserted that “Hizbullah has also advised me to take the side of caution.”

Jumblatt added that no matter how many groups are trying to assassinate him, the primary suspect from his point of view is the “Syrian regime,” adding “those who used to protect me in Syria no longer exist including Hikmat al-Shehabi, Ghazi Kanaan and others.”

Jumblat acknowledged that Syrian President “Bashar Assad has triumphed in Aleppo after taking advantage of the International community's abandonment of the Syrian people. Later he will destroy Idlib which means that his influence on Lebanon will grow and the Iranian-Syrian grip on the country will intensify.”

On Wednesday, rebels in Aleppo called for a five-day truce and the evacuation of civilians after losing more than three quarters of their territory including the Old City to a Syrian army offensive.

After three weeks of heavy fighting, regime forces appeared closer than ever to retaking all of Aleppo and winning their most important victory yet in the civil war that began in 2011.

The assault has prompted a mass exodus of east Aleppo residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 80,000 had now fled their homes.

Assad's government has been urging civilians to leave east Aleppo for months and accused rebels of holding residents hostage for use as "human shields."

The offensive has killed at least 369 people in east Aleppo, including 45 children, the Observatory says. Rebel fire into the west of the city has killed at least 92 people, including 34 children, in the same period, it says.