Last week, one of America’s top allies in Lebanon, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, caused a row when he made remarks – off the record – criticizing his allies in the pro-Western March 14 Coalition. Among other things, Jumblatt scoffed at his patron Saad al-Hariri, the head of the largest bloc in the Lebanese parliament, for having tried – and failed – to combat Hezbollah on the streets of Beirut last May.
Then, Hariri’s armed men were round up and disarmed in a matter of minutes by the well-trained Hezbollah fighters. “We have seen the Sunnis in the field, huh!” he said, adding, “They didn’t last for more than 15 minutes!” Jumblatt quickly apologized – but the damage was already done.
