Mukhtara - Normally, when head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt leaves his Beirut residence in Clemenceau to his historic home in Mukhtara, it means he is on a security alert. But this time he left Beirut to his stronghold in the Chouf mountains, “to escape the heat of summer, no more, no less,” as he puts it.
Security measures around his castle of many mansions attest to the lack of anything out of the ordinary. “I receive security reports which I do not believe. They come from the same source. It is the same fax and gets distributed to everyone,” he explains.
In his office, packed with mostly Soviet-era memorabilia, he keeps two AK-47s near his chair. They seem ready to be used at any moment. “But they are souvenirs. There is no need to oil our weapons. Who will we fight?”
The usually anxious man is not concerned these days. He is more worried about renovating the house once used as a headquarters for the military wing of his party, than about the blaze that could set fire to the country at any moment now.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment