Jumblatt’s switch to support al-Assad not trustable - commentator
Press TV has conducted an interview with Redwan Rizk, political commentator, Beirut about Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
Press TV: We spoke to our correspondent a short while ago and he said that if Walid Jumblatt comes out and makes this type of statement and observation regarding Israel cooperation that means that this shows that the West indeed is also aware of it; and does not want anybody else to be elected in terms of the president of Syria – meaning that they want the current Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to stay in power.
So do you make that deduction from what Walid Jumblatt has said?
Rizk: Walid Jumblatt is not a person that we can depend on his ideas because as we know we have experienced Walid Jumblatt in Lebanese political life.
He is a very unstable person, he changes his positions overnight.
If we want to criticize or just analyze what he said, Walid Jumblatt himself had strong relations with the Israelis during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and some of his party leaders still have connections with Israel and this is not a secret in Lebanon, we all know it.
Walid Jumblatt has to admit that he was one of the first to support the so-called revolution in Syria and he is a very strong enemy to the Syrian regime because he still blames them for the killing of his father as he suspects.
Walid Jumblatt knows that relations between the opposition in Syria and Israel are not something knew. They have always been there since the beginning and maybe even before that they have received lots of aid and they have advisors – Israeli advisors; there is evidence of this...
So, there are many incidents that show the opposition has managed the oppositions in Syria and as we know they have met with many opposition leaders outside especially Basma Kadamani who met with Israeli officers and she was calling them out in the open to interfere and to help militarily in ousting Dr. Bashar al-Assad out of power.
And some of the opposition leaders even called for the invasion of Damascus asking for a change coming by the aid of the Israeli army.
We know that Walid Jumblatt must have admitted a long time ago that he cannot stand beside and support the opposition and as we know he was a very strong supporter and in very strong alliance to many of the opposition leaders who had tried before even the incident of Syria to overthrow the President Bashar al-Assad.
Now I believe that the opposition is trying to bring in some of the outer armies and that the Turks have helped them to take over Kasab. As well, there is slight evidence that the Turkish army itself was deeply involved in the invasion of Kasab or taking over this strategic part of Syria.
So, the history of Walid Jumblatt is not a responsible one and we cannot depend on his ideas because as we know Walid Jumblatt is a changeable person so we cannot say that he can be a reliable source for his positions.
So, if he is saying now that crossing the opposition might be crossing the red line, he might have something in mind coming and so he is preparing for a change in his position.
And maybe this is something about talking to the Syrian regime so the Syrian government may allow him once again into Damascus and maybe welcomed in a visit by President Bashar al-Assad. I’m guessing that this is the main aim and this is just preparing the ground for another visit as he dreamt of before and my information says that he has been working on that since a couple of years ago since his last visit to Damascus.,
And maybe the doors of Damascus were closed in front of him because of his many, many speeches against the government in Syria. Now he is dreaming to open the doors again and I believe this is something that maybe he was asked to say out in the open so that they can open the door of Damascus again.