Jumblat Calls for Defense Strategy to Safeguard Achievements of Liberation
MP Walid Jumblat has urged the Lebanese to honor Liberation Day by endorsing a unified defense strategy that will strengthen the state”s capabilities and "gradually" merge the resistance with the military establishment.
"National duty requires that we preserve this historic achievement by gathering around the state and boosting its defenses," Jumblat told al-Anbaa newspaper in comments to be published Wednesday.
"This can be achieved by drafting a strategy of defense under the main (objective) of the gradual assimilation of the resistance”s capabilities into official military establishments. All through dialogue," he said.
Jumblat stressed that national unity and civil peace were two "unavoidable" factors in efforts to "protect Lebanon from divisions, ruptures and in-fighting, all of which are the goals of Israel and other (countries)."
"This is why the Lebanese must block the way (toward such a direction) that presented itself in one of its (many) forms through … espionage networks which included spies from all sects and regions," he said.
On the sidelines of the Russian foreign minister”s visit to Beirut, Jumblat voiced hope for "more active Russian involvement in attempts to resolve the Middle East conflict."
He said Moscow”s role alongside the United States and the European Union in reviving the peace process "paves the way for more pressure on Israel."