"Completely Pessimistic"..Jumblatt: I No Longer Know How to Talk to Hezbollah

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt expressed pessimism about the region's future amid the open war with Iran and the Israeli escalation in Gaza and southern Lebanon, and the decline of internal dialogue in Lebanon.

Jumblatt said, in an interview with the French newspaper "Libération," that he is no longer able to communicate with Hezbollah as he used to in the era of the party's former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, considering that the current leadership "has become completely under Iranian influence after Nasrallah's assassination by Israel in 2024."

He added: "I can no longer, and I do not know how to talk to the party," noting that he was previously able to discuss and communicate with Nasrallah, "but there is no longer an interlocutor."

In contrast, Jumblatt considered that "Hezbollah's opponents have also become completely rigid," saying that the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, acts as if he is Moses," adding that "everyone is stuck in a spiral of violence and exchanging insults, while the rational voice has disappeared."

He warned of the growing "separatist and divisive influence in the region," considering that "the Israeli project to create sectarian, religious, and tribal entities has returned to the forefront with the aim of dismantling the entire region."

He also denounced "Israel's complete impunity," saying it has "a green light to destroy Gaza and southern Lebanon and colonize what remains of Palestinian lands in the West Bank."

He added that "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to push the Zionist project that has been ongoing for more than a century."

On the regional level, Jumblatt predicted the continuation of the war against Iran, considering that "the beneficiaries are many, from arms and oil companies to technology and artificial intelligence companies," adding: "The stock market is rising, and so is gold," concluding by saying he is "completely pessimistic."