Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, former president of the Progressive Socialist Party. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT —Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, former president of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), on Sunday called for the opening of new shelters for displaced people “because the crisis may last.”
“While waiting for a cease-fire and hoping that negotiations will include an Israeli withdrawal [from the occupied territories of South Lebanon], we reiterate our request, addressed to all relevant authorities, to create new shelters, because the crisis may last,” Joumblatt wrote in a post on X.
More than a million people have been victims of forced displacement since the start of this conflict between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2. Israeli troops now occupy nearly 6% of Lebanon’s territory, in south Lebanon. More than sixty villages are completely or partially destroyed, jeopardizing the return of residents.
A precarious calm has prevailed since Saturday at 4 p.m., with no Israeli attacks reported.
Joumblatt referred to talks between Iran and the United States scheduled to take place in Switzerland on Sunday, where the Lebanese issue is expected to be central. A new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, under U.S. auspices, is also set to begin Monday in Washington.
