PFLP-GC rocket launchers on 888 hill outrage Jumblatt

Al Jumhouriaya newspaper reported on Monday that the meeting between Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is related to the recent strain in Hezbollah-PSP relations.

Aridi said on Monday that his meeting with Nasrallah was not the first, but it was the first one to have been announced.

According to Jumhouriaya , Jumblatt was outraged when he heard that Hezbollah has recently positioned rocket launchers on top of the strategic 888 hill near Aley in MT. Lebanon. The hill was the focal point of the fighting in MT Lebanon between the Druze and Hezbollah in May 2008. Jumblatt asked MP Akram Shehayeb who is from Aley to inquire about the developments on the hill with Hezbollah. Shehayeb contacted Hezbollah’s security coordinator Wafik Safa who claimed that those manning the hill are undisciplined members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -General Command ( PFLP-GC)

Both Hezbollah and PFLP-GC are backed by Syria and according to observers both parties coordinate their activities .

According to Jumhouriaya Jumblatt’s visit to Syria last week was related to the above issue . He was accompanied by Aridi during his Syria trip.

According to Jumhouriaya sources Jumblatt understood that from his Syrian visit that the developments on 888 hill were a message to him in response to his calls on Syrian president Bashar al Assad to immediately implement the reforms he promised .

Aridi told LBC television on Monday that the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) , of which he is a member does not make decisions under pressure. He did not elaborate, but may have been referring to the recent dispute with MP Michel Aoun (Hezbollah’s key Christian ally ) over the energy bill

Asked about the alleged meeting between PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt and opposition leader Saad Hariri, Aridi said that “the meeting did not take place.” This was in reference to the rumors that Jumblatt met Hariri during his last trip to Turkey