Jumblatt urges state to be firm, put an end to Tripoli’s situation

The head of the National Struggle Front MP Walid Jumblatt said Monday, on the anniversary of the death of the Arab revolutionary fighter Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, that Syria needs people like al-Atrash, Ibrahim Hanano, Hassan al-Kharrat, Saleh al-Ali and other Syrian national figures who sought to protect the national Arab identity and refused to divide Syria under the most difficult political and military conditions during that time.

In his weekly statement to al-Anbaa website, Jumblatt saluted the efforts of civil society organizations in Tripoli for repeatedly attempting to rescue the city and restore stability and security.

He also urged the state and the security and military apparatuses to be firm in their decisions, in order to put an end to “the volatile situation, which is leaving innocent people killed and injured.”

Commenting on the recent controversy surrounding the fate of the Lycee Abdel Qader School, Jumblatt asked: “Why doesn't the Beirut municipality take ownership of the school and transform it into a museum or a library, instead of destroying it to serve the commercial greed that has distorted Beirut’s heritage and turned the city into a group of buildings and concrete cubes?”