BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt Monday condemned the twin suicide bombing that targeted a Tripoli cafe two days earlier, saying the attack benefited the Syrian regime.
“It was intended to trigger instability in Tripoli following the success of the security plan in ending the recurring clashes,” Jumblatt wrote in his weekly column published in his party’s Al-Anbaa magazine.
The attack targeting a cafe in the majority-Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood killed at least nine people. The attack was claimed by the Nusra Front, which Jumblatt has on several occasions said was not a terrorist group, a statement which drew condemnations and ridicule.
In his Monday statement, Jumblatt hailed the “awareness and wisdom” of the residents of Tripoli, emphasizing that their insistence on co-existence contributes to the preservation of stability.
“What is required is expanding the constituency of the [Syrian] opposition to include Alawites in addition to all of the other Syrian factions,” Jumblatt said, noting that such attacks on Alawites bring them closer to the Syrian government, which serves its interests.
He emphasized the need of the opposition to refocus their goals in order to overthrow the Syrian government and replace it with a “democratic, pluralistic and diversified” one.
Jumblatt also condemned last week’s attacks on the French capital while ridiculing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in a solidarity demonstration Sunday.
His participation was outrageous after “having led the Zionist regime which has committed atrocities against both Palestine and the Arabs without being deterred by [what is called] the international community,” Jumblatt said.
Jumblatt thought that it would have been better for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abaas, who was also present at the rally, to organize a protest denouncing the attacks at home instead of standing side-by-side with the “symbol of terrorism,” he added.
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