BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt criticized reports Wednesday warning that Syria-based ISIS and Nusra Front militants were gearing up for a major offensive against Lebanon.
“I don’t share the opinion that ISIS and Nusra Front will attack Lebanon,” Jumblatt said in remarks published by pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. “We have to protect our borders, but I don’t see a threat at this point.”
The Druze leader said he does not believe that “ISIS today has the potential to carry out a comprehensive attack, [especially] since there are multiple fronts open for ISIS.”
Jumblatt, however, admitted that ISIS could attack Lebanon if the Al-Qaeda-inspired group “ has powers that can defy war planes, armies and 60 states ... then we are in front of a strange phenomenon, a global phenomenon.”
He hailed Lebanese security forces for their coordination to “combat the so-called terrorism over the past two years,” while he reaffirmed his rejection to call Nusra Front a terrorist organization.
Turning to the crisis next door, Jumblatt said Syria no longer fits in the Arab world.
“Without Iran’s support for the Syrian regime, this regime would not have endured,” he said. “Syria no longer has an Arab color, but an Iranian color instead.”
According to retired Lebanese Army generals, ISIS and the Nusra Front, entrenched on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, have been long preparing for an attack on Lebanon, but have been hampered by bad weather conditions, particularly the severe blizzards that hit Lebanon in recent months.
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