Jumblatt to meet Assad in Damascus, reports say

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus later this month.

Reports say Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has informed Jumblatt that the Syrian leadership wants to open a new chapter in relations with Lebanon.

Jumblatt had described Assad as a "butcher" in 2007 during a rally marking the second anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He now says those remarks came in a moment of anger and has expressed interest in improving relations with 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.

"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=120924§ionid=351020203.