Jumblatt describes Assad as ‘megalomaniac’

Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt has described Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad as a “megalomaniac”. Jumblatt told the French newspaper Le Monde that his last meeting with Assad was “surreal”. When asked if the Syrian president was a reformist and those close to Assad prevented him from going on with his reforms, Jumblatt said it was a “lie.” “This reformist couldn’t bear a minimum amount of change during the Damascus Spring in the year 2000, he had imprisoned many people back then,” Jumblatt told the French daily. He stressed that dictator regimes “can’t make any change.” Jumblatt said he was happy to cut ties with the Syrian regime, while denying that he had visited Syria in August. He also said that the Syrian regime would not collapse soon. “I wish so, but the Western countries found the Russian-Chinese veto as an excuse not to help the Syrian people,” the PSP leader stated. Russia and China vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions on the crisis in Syria. He told the newspaper that the Assad regime had reinforced security along its border with Israel, “and Israel's interest is a priority for some Western countries.” Concerning Lebanese outfit Hezbollah's weapons, Jumblatt said he hoped Hezbollah arms became part of the state’s “legitimacy” in consensus with Lebanese parties. “We know that these arms are to defend Lebanon, and we know that they are also to defend the Iranian revolution as (Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah didn’t hide that,” he said.