Jumblatt Says Aoun is Irrational Ruler Who Wants to Commit Suicide

 FILE PHOTO: PSP leader Walid Jumblatt leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande, February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: PSP leader Walid Jumblatt leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande, February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
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Jumblatt Says Aoun is Irrational Ruler Who Wants to Commit Suicide

 FILE PHOTO: PSP leader Walid Jumblatt leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande, February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: PSP leader Walid Jumblatt leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande, February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

Head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt described Lebanese President Michel Aoun as an "irrational ruler who wants to commit suicide.”

"Let him commit suicide alone, along with his dear son-in-law,” Jumblatt said in a TV statement, in reference to former Minister and MP Gebran Bassil.

His remarks came on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“Despite the severity of the circumstance, we must derive strength from the occasion. We have continued to some extent, and others must continue in the country of universities, diversity and civilized coexistence,” he noted.

Jumblatt further underlined the need for “a new political formula, as we cannot continue with the old one.”

“Today there is a destructive ruler and an absurd rule.”

Touching on the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government, he told Future TV that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri devised a formula that suits all components but rejected to grant the “vetoing third” to the president.

“Enough with this vetoing-third that impeded the country for 15 years!” Jumblatt added.

The PSP leader emphasized the need for “a constitutional way to resolve the current impasse.”

He reminded that French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need to implement reforms in exchange for help from the international community.

“We missed the opportunity,” Jumblatt said.



Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said.

The attack came amid tensions in Syria’s coastal region between former President Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite sect and members of armed groups. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of opposition factions led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites.

“These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime,” Abdurrahman said.

A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release security information to the media.

Conflicting casualties figures are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria’s 13-year conflict that has killed half a million people.

The pan Arab Al-Jazeera TV broadcaster said its cameraman Riad al-Hussein was wounded while covering the clashes.

The SANA state-news agency reported that large reinforcements were being sent to the coastal region to get the situation under control.

The Syrian Observatory said helicopter gunships took part in attacking Alawite gunmen and Jableh and nearby areas. It added that fighters loyal to former Syrian army Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, also known as Tiger, took part in the attacks against security forces.

Tensions have been on the rise in Syria with reports of attacks by militants against Alawites who had led the rule in Syria for more than five decades under the Assad family.