Jumblat Rejects Linking Lebanon's Fate to Syria and Nasrallah's Claims that Yemen Offensive Targets its Poor
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat reiterated on Monday his support for political dialogue in Lebanon, while voicing his rejection to “once again linking Lebanon's fate to Syria's.”
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “We stress the need to demarcate the border in the Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills to end the ongoing misconceptions over this issue.”
“We should therefore focus our efforts on defending our borders and land as stipulated in the Baabda Declaration, which ultimately emphasizes the need to limit the possession of arms to the state,” he noted.
Addressing the developments in Yemen, the MP said: “Some sides claimed that operation 'Firmness Storm' targets the country's poor. It is true that Yemen is poor, but didn't the Huthi movement drag the country to the cycle of wars at the expense of development?”
He made his remark in reference to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech on Friday during which he described the Saudi offensive against Yemen as an “act of aggression”.
He also wondered: “What have the poor oppressed Yemeni people done to incite such an attack?”
Jumblat continued: “Has anyone thought of the poor in Syria, whose situation was compounded by the destructive war?”
“The heroes of Syria and its poor are liberating it bit by bit and they will be victorious as they did in Idlib and Bosra al-Sham,” he declared in reference to al-Nusra Front and its allies' recent defeat of Syrian regime forces in the city of Idlib.
Jumblat also lashed out at Iran and its growing influence in the region, saying: “It seems that there is a need to clarify some labels in light of recent statements about the establishment of an historic empire with disregard to the Arab people and the diversity of the minority groups in the region.”
“If such remarks are not considered condescending to them, then we suggest changing the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran to 'Islamic Persia',” he said.
An advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had declared recently that “Iran is now an empire, similar to the one that existed in the past, whose capital is Baghdad.”
None of Iran's allies opposed his statement, but Iraqi President Fuad Masum did, noted Jumblat.
“I look forward to seeing Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi succeeding in liberating the Iraqi regions from the Islamic State without the help of the so-called Popular Mobilization forces that have spread corruption and crime,” he added.
“I look forward to him building a state and balanced army to achieve radical change on the ground that would restore stability in Iraq,” Jumblat continued.
Islamic Persia's direct or indirect intervention in Iraq reflects some of the ambitions of achieving the historic empire, the MP said.
“On sectarian strife, it was clear that Islamic Persia stood against the majority of the Syrian people alongside the Syrian regime since the beginning of the peaceful revolt,” Jumblat stated.
“It was only natural that extremist groups would emerge from the policies of oppression, killing, crime, and shelling adopted by the Syrian regime,” he added.
He therefore voiced his support for the recent remarks of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who said that Syria was under "complete Persian occupation."
In Yemen, “the expansionist polices of Islamic Persia” thwarted the Gulf initiative aimed at restoring stability in the country, he noted.
“The invasion of military barracks, stripping the army of its weapons, and overthrow of the state whereby an armed militia began to threaten Yemen's national security prompted Saudi Arabia's reaction,” he remarked.
He said that the kingdom's operation Firmness Storm is justified and “we completely support it.”
“It has achieved further legitimacy through the comprehensive cover it was provided by the Arab League summit,” Jumblat stressed.
“Saudi King Salman was clear in emphasizing the need to return to the political solution and Gulf initiative,” explained the MP.
“Should we also remind of Islamic Persia's expansionist plans in Sudan on the borders of Egypt but through different methods?” he wondered.
Saudi Arabia launched last week military operation Firmness Storm to combat the growing influence of the Iranian-backed Shiite Huthi movement in Yemen.
It has launched airstrikes in the country, backed by various Arab countries.
An Arab League summit declared over the weekend that the operation will continue until legitimacy is restored to Yemen through the reinstatement of toppled President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi.
M.T.
Y.R.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/173674 |