Former Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt called on Hezbollah to abandon its military wing and focus its political role .
He urged Hezbollah to be realistic and to realize that the past is behind us .
“The past has ended” , he said .
“President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech was clear and must become Lebanon’s road map” Jumblatt added, during an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper.
“We cannot engage in a declared war against Israel”, Jumblatt added
“Hezbollah must realize that there is a new Lebanon after the latest earthquake that struck the country in the wake of the October 7 attack,” Jumblatt went on to say. He was referring to the war that Hezbollah initiated against Israel reportedly to help its ally the Iran-backed Hamas militants of Gaza .
Addressing the issue of the the delay in the government formation , Jumblatt warned that “Israel is exploiting this governmental vacuum and is still destroying the villages in south Lebanon.”
Jumblatt was referring to the obstruction by Hezbollah and ally the Amal Movement of government formation by PM Designate Nawaf Salam.
Te so called Shiite Duo is insisting on monopolizing the ministry of Finance , which they they held for the last decade and reportedly have mishandled and corrupted and resulted in the complete collapse of the Lebanese economy
“There are dangers surrounding Lebanon and I see big wars in the region, from Gaza to the West Bank to south Lebanon, so we must be united in Lebanon and must overcome the governmental vacuum,” Jumblatt said .
Hezbollah was drastically weakened in its war against Israel and lost its leader Hassan Nasrallah and its heir apparent Hashem Safieddine . Both were assassinated in their 40 ft deep bunkers . I addition hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from Hezbollah’s strongholds became homeless one tens of thousands of homes were destroyed by Israel
Hezbollah also lost all its top military commanders , and is now being run by Quds division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ( IRGC) .
The most serious situation for Hezbollah is reportedly the fact that , like Iran it heavily infiltrated with Israeli spies
Its new leader Sheikh Naim Qassem fled to Tehran 3 months ago onboard the plane of Iran’s Foreign Minister who visited Lebanon after the ceasefire agreement .
Hezbollah ally former president Bashar al Assad , who like Hezbollah was a member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance was ousted last December by HTS rebel group and fled to Moscow on a Russian plane .
Since Hezbollah used to get almost all its its heavy arms through Syria , it can no longer use that route
President Aoun was extremely clear that only the Lebanese Army has the right to bear arms and the ceasefire. deal with Israel which Speaker Nabih Berri signed on Hezbollah’s behalf was based on UN resolution 1701 which calls for disarming all militias including Hezbollah and the Palestinian militias.
At the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990 all the militias handed over their arms to the Lebanese army except Hezbollah.