Political Life
The BBC describes Jumblatt as "the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party". Assem Qanso of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs.
He was a supporter of Syria after the Lebanese Civil War but, since the death of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. This pitted him against President Émile Lahoud and the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah of which he said: "Their fighters have done a good job defying and defeating the Israeli army, OK, but the question we ask is where their allegiance goes: to a Lebanese strong central authority or somewhere else?"
Although, on 21 January 2011, Jumblatt said he supported Hizbollah and Syria stance, with the onset of the Syrian Civil War, Jumblatt and the PSP moved towards an anti-Assad stance.
Read more about this topic: Walid Jumblatt
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