Jumblatt seeks reconciliation with Assad

The leader of Lebanon's Druze community has admitted that he has made "inappropriate" remarks about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has called for the consolidation of ties between Lebanon and Syria.

In an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite television network on Saturday, Walid Jumblatt acknowledged his past blunders and said that Assad should forget the past, since he had made "inappropriate and unreasonable remarks" in anger about him at a time of internal tension and extreme division within Lebanon.

During a speech on February 14, 2007, the second anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Jumblatt had called Assad "the dictator of Damascus… a savage… an Israeli product, a liar… and a criminal."

Two years prior to these insulting remarks, Jumblatt had accused Syria of killing both Hariri — father of current Prime Minister Saad Hariri — and his own father Kamal in 1977.

"In order to consolidate Lebanon-Syria relations, between the two peoples and two states and between the Druze of Lebanon and Syria, can we now overlook this moment and open a new page?" the 60-year-old hereditary chieftain of Lebanon's Druze minority asked during the interview.

He said his remarks were "unworthy and unusual, unsuited to the ethics of politics even during a quarrel."

Jumblatt stated that his U-turn was necessary to maintain peace and avoid sectarian bloodshed.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120764§ionid=351020203.