Jumblatt Accuses Hizbullah of Serving Iran

Daily Star:

Druze MP Walid Jumblatt attacked Hizbullah Sunday, saying it is "an armed force which controls the lawless South and which serves the best interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran." READ MORE

Speaking before visitors in his mountain refuge of Mukhtara Sunday, Jumblatt, who had said late last week that Hizbullah is a militia, said "the loyalty in this country is divided," and that Lebanon is "facing a great conflict."

He added that Hizbullah's power, which is drawn from the $300 to $400 million in aid from Iran, "can create a state within a state. Let them give us the same capabilities and aid and see what we can do. But our plan is to build one country."

Jumblatt again stressed that the Shebaa Farms is not Lebanese but in fact Syrian and that Syria had altered the maps pushing the borderline to show that Shebaa Farms is Lebanese and this way Hizbullah's resistance to the Israeli occupation of a supposedly Lebanese territory would be justified.

Jumblatt displayed a Lebanese Army map dating back to 1962, which he said clearly shows the Shebaa Farms outside Lebanese borders, Jumblatt added that the imprisoned former chief of Lebanese General Security, Jamil Sayyed, had given him a map in 2001 on which changes had been made to the original map, putting Shebaa Farms in Lebanon.

Sayyed is charged, with three other former security chiefs, with planning, and taking part in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. They are currently awaiting trial.

The Druze leader explained that in this way, "Syria and Iran could extend their influence in Lebanon through the continuation of Hizbullah's role."

Jumblatt continued that Hariri "was not convinced of the 2001 forged map and that is one of the reasons why he was assassinated."

Sources close to Premier Fouad Siniora told The Daily Star Sunday that "Premier Siniora has not seen the maps that Jumblatt is talking about, and the maps should be examined first."

Siniora has stated on numerous occasions that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese.

Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, who is pro-Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, echoed Siniora's statements saying that the Shebaa Farms "are in fact Lebanese territories occupied by Israel."

Jumblatt added that Lebanon "continues to be a hostage of Syrian and Iranian greed."

As an example of the aid extended to Hizbullah, and which shows the extension of Syria and Iran's role in Lebanon,

Jumblatt said a truck loaded with arms "crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border into Lebanon late Friday to one of the armed forces in Lebanon. The army stopped it for some time before allowing it to continue on its way."

Jumblatt also replied to Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's comment about Lebanon's political majority-minority combination, in which the Hizbullah chief stated the majority was an "imaginary" one.

"We are not an imaginary majority as someone said recently at an event," Jumblatt said.