Junblatt changes stance on Syria, leaves March 14

Beirut: Divisions in the ranks of Lebanon's March 14 coalition, which won parliamentary elections in June, started to surface this week when a key member of the majority announced that some alliances should be ended.

Druze member of Parliament Walid Junblatt, once a March 14 hawk and an outspoken critic of Syria, said his alliance with the majority had been "out of necessity and should be terminated" - reshaping the political landscape and casting a long shadow over the March 14 victory two months ago. "We allied ourselves, during a certain period, under the slogan of March 14 with a group of parties and figures, out of necessity ... but this cannot continue," Junblatt told a party meeting.

His political acrobatics are seen as being linked to his reading of a shifting regional picture, including rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Syria and an end to Syria's isolation by the West. He also struck a note of reconciliation over his earlier criticism of Syria, emphasising the need to reconsider forming a new alliance on a national level "to get rid of biases".

Junblatt also told Tunisian magazine Realités yesterday that he was no longer sure who killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, backtracking on all his previous accusations that Syria was responsible. "In the future, I intend to fix my relationship with Damascus in my own way. Looking back, I think I committed the sin of voicing 'too many anti-Syrian slogans'," Junblatt said.

In a statement issued in an apparent response to Junblatt's announcement, Hariri's son Sa'ad, who leads the Future Movement, declared that the party "accepts any party returning to its roots but not to a black period in its history when it put its own interests above those of the nation & the interests of the Lebanese nation and citizens come first, and only then the interests of any party or movement".

Junblatt's swing in his political stance could weaken March 14's influence in the Cabinet that Hariri is trying to form. The prime minister was appointed in June but has been unable to reach an agreement with the opposition.

Nabih Berri, parliament speaker and one of Syria's closest Lebanon allies, told the As Safir newspaper that the three ministers to be allocated to Junblatt in the new 30-seat Cabinet would no longer be considered among March 14's share. However, Member of Parliament Hani Kobeissi told Voice of Lebanon radio station on Monday that Junblatt's speech will have no bearing on the next government.

- With inputs from agencies