Jumblat for Summit Boycott, Warns from 'Persian Empire' Threats

by **Admin** Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:58 am

Druze leader Walid Jumblat has said Lebanon should boycott the forthcoming Arab summit in Damascus and slammed Syria and Hizbullah for rotating in the "Persian orbit."

"Lebanon should boycott the Damascus summit because its participation would be similar to acquitting the Syrian regime which along with its allies has hampered the presidential elections," Jumblat told BBC radio's Arabic service on Thursday.

He said Lebanon's participation in the March 29-30 summit would create precedence "for Syrian intervention at the expense of sovereignty and free will."

The Progressive Socialist Party leader also described the Damascus summit as a Persian summit.

"There is no Arab summit. Arabs will attend but other Arabs are part of the Iranian orbit," he said.

"There is a Persian empire in the Gulf and has reached Syria. The Syrian regime has lost its Arab belonging because it is in the Persian orbit as is Hizbullah," Jumblat said.

Iranian President Mahmoud "Ahmadinejad will hold the presidency of the summit…which is a dangerous development in Arab relations and Arab fate," Jumblat told BBC radio.

He also accused Syria and Iran of adopting a "long-term plan" to shake Lebanon's political and security stability.

"They can at any moment and anywhere plant explosives. The latest victim was Maj. Wissam Eid," the Druze leader said about the Jan. 25 assassination of the senior intelligence officer in a car bombing.

Asked if he had fears over Lebanon's internal stability, Jumblat said: "Nothing has changed. They hint that if Israel attacks they will hold responsible its agents (in Lebanon)."

"What does this mean?" he wondered. "Does it mean (Hizbullah's) weapons will be used in the interior?"