'Finally awake': Joumblatt welcomes the initiative, even late, of rapprochement between Damascus and Beirut

Former head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Joumblatt on Friday welcomed the first official contact on Wednesday between the new government in Syria and Lebanon but criticized the delay in the call on the Lebanese side. Joumblatt is the first Lebanese figure to have met with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of a rebel coalition that toppled the Assad rule in Syria.

"Finally, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has woken up from its deep sleep and noticed that a change has taken place in Syria," joked Joumblatt in a post on X, two days after the phone call between Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib and his Syrian counterpart Assaad Hassan al-Shibani. An initiative considered late by Joumblatt who had been boycotting Assad and his family for years, whom he accuses of assassinating his father, Kamal Joumblatt, in 1977.

Lebanon hopes for the "best possible relations" with neighboring Syria and "stands by the new Syrian government," the Lebanese Foreign Minister said Wednesday evening during this exchange, according to comments reported by the Syrian news agency SANA.

Upon the arrival of the new authorities in Syria, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry and the Grand Serail stated they wanted to establish the "best possible relations with the Syrian state and its representatives" and to respect "the will of the Syrian people because it is up to them alone to choose their representatives, their political system and the future of their country."

Security forces must also 'wake up'

The former PSP leader also attacked Lebanese security forces on Friday, accusing them of not doing enough to prevent the supposed transit through Beirut of former senior officials of the Assad government who are fleeing.

"Is it possible that the security services will do the same (wake up, editor's note ) and arrest senior officials of the previous regime who cross the border and flee through the airport?" Joumblatt added in a post on X.

According to local media, several officials of the former Syrian government, some of whom are the subject of international arrest warrants, recently arrived in the Lebanese capital and then left via Beirut airport. Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi confirmed that the wife and son of Maher al-Assad, brother of the ousted Syrian president and former second-in-command of the regime, had clandestinely left Lebanon via Beirut's airport. Some twenty Syrian soldiers were also arrested last week by General Security while fleeing Syria, according to the authorities. However, according to Mawlawi, people who are not wanted are free to enter and leave Lebanon freely through legal crossing points.