Jumblat Says Positive Signs Loom over his Visit to Saudi Arabia

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's ties with Saudi Arabia are expected to improve after the Druze leader announced on Thursday that he will head to Riyadh soon.

“I think positive news will be revealed concerning this matter soon,” Jumblat said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

According to the PSP chief, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri is preparing for the visit and seeking to find the appropriate conditions to make it happen.

Jumblat described a meeting held with Asiri on Wednesday as “good,” pointing out that relations with the ambassador are “excellent” and not “frozen.”

Ties between the Druze leader and Saudi Arabia deteriorated after the government of ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri was toppled by Hizbullah and its allies in 2011.

Jumblat, who is a centrist, played a major role in deciding the fate of the majority alliance that makes up the current Hizbullah-led cabinet.

The March 8 majority led by Hizbullah, backed by some of Jumblat’s 12-member National Struggle Front parliamentary bloc, brought Miqati to the premiership after Hariri’s national unity cabinet was toppled.