Official Papers Welcome Statements by Former Foe

Syrian official newspapers welcomed attempts by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt to open up to Syria after having led a fierce campaign against Damascus for the past four years.



In the first reaction in an official Syrian newspaper to Jumblatt’s recent shift in position, an August 11 opinion article in the state-run daily Tishreen said that the Lebanese leader had now “erased a black page” in the history of his relations with Syria.



Jumblatt had accused Syria of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005 and was a leader of the anti-Syrian Lebanese coalition, the March 14 group. He recently, however, announced that he was distancing himself from the group and he was no longer sure that Damascus was behind Hariri’s killing.



In the Tishreen op-ed article, Abdullah Khaled said that Jumblatt had broken away from the US-backed faction after realising that Washington had been defeated everywhere in the region, from Afghanistan to Iraq and the Gaza Strip.



Khaled said that Jumblatt had committed many sins in the past years but finally repented, returning to the principles of Arab nationalism and the defence of Palestinian rights and resistance movements.



The author concluded that Jumblatt looked relaxed after ending his alliance with all parties hostile to Syria and to resistance groups.