Jumblat Throws Weight behind Syrians Seeking to Topple Assad
Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat reiterated that not all those who rebelled against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are terrorists.
“The Syrian people chose to revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad. They wanted to get rid of his tyranny and crimes,” Jumblat, who is also a lawmaker, told al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Tuesday.
“How would I not be beside them?” he asked.
“The Syrians chose (al-Qaida-linked) al-Nusra Front and rushed towards that direction for several reasons,” the PSP leader said.
“How could the Syrians who joined al-Nusra be terrorists? Are all those who decided to revolt against Bashar's regime terrorists?” Jumblat wondered.
Recent advances made by al-Nusra Front in Syria have exposed the weakness of more moderate factions, which the U.S. hopes to forge into an effective fighting force against Assad's troops.
The jihadists seized the southern Syrian town of Nawa on Sunday from troops loyal to Assad after months of intense fighting.
Two days earlier, the al-Qaida-linked fighters captured at least three villages from the Western-backed rebels in northwestern Syria as the militants continued their push to assert control over an area once held by more moderate groups.
The control of the villages came just a day after U.S. airstrikes hit one of their major weapons storage compounds in northwestern Idlib province.
Jumblat told al-Mustaqbal that “it was about time to take a bold decision to come out of the (Syrian) regime's burden which will collapse sooner or later.”
He called on all Syrians to join the rebellion which started in March 2011 with peaceful protests and turned into an all-out war.
“The rebellion was founded on the slogans of freedom, dignity and change, which are righteous demands for all the Syrian people,” said Jumblat.
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