Jumblat: Some Parties' Political Withdrawal, Mistrust of Army Encouraged Attacks

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday noted that some parties' “withdrawal” from political life and their “mistrust” of the army are what encouraged” the recent attacks against its troops.

“It is evident that what we had warned against in the past has proven correct, especially that the alibi of withdrawal that some forces are embracing will lead to the filling of the vacuum by some extremist and even takfiri movements, which will eradicate political moderation and destroy everything,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa, his party's mouthpiece.

“Not to mention those who questioned the role of the Lebanese army in the wake of the Abra clashes and raised their voices unwarrantably,” he added.

The Druze leader warned that “the army is being targeted once again and it is offering martyrs to defend stability and civil peace," calling for "utmost solidarity with the army" and for "facilitating all its security missions, which it is carrying out amid critical and difficult circumstances."

On Sunday, near-simultaneous attacks – one of them involving a suicide bomber -- on two army checkpoints in Sidon left a soldier and four gunmen dead.

Jumblat also called for facilitating the army's mission in Tripoli to “avoid the recurrence of the meaningless confrontations whose price is paid by innocents and soldiers performing their national duty.”

Turning to the Syrian crisis, Jumblat condemned what he described as the “futile successive conferences,” noting that “the haphazard funding of extremist groups and the facilitation of their crossing into Syria have aggravated the situation.”

“Today, the regime's systematic terrorism is meeting with the terrorism of the extremist groups to terminate the legitimate demands of the Syrian people who are seeking freedom, democracy and dignity,” he added.