Following tension in the Druze area of Jahiliyeh over the weekend, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) raised its security alert level on Monday, hinting that the party had received threats from the Syrian regime.
“The Syrian regime has never stopped making threats against the PSP,” party sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.
They denied that special security measures were taken by the party to restrict the movement of some PSP officials or leaders.
Since the weekend, tensions have been high throughout the country, particularly the Chouf area of Mount Lebanon, where the Druze party is mainly present.
The tensions were triggered when head of the Tawhid Party, Wiam Wahhab, was summoned to court on charges of inciting strife and civil peace after he made disparaging remarks against slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his son and PM-designate, Saad.
However, gunmen loyal to Wahhab prevented the security forces from escorting him from his Jahiliyeh residence, leading to an armed clash and the killing of Wahhab’s bodyguard Mohamad Abu Diab.
Akram Chehayeb, an MP from the PSP’s Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc expressed the party’s security concerns, wondering: “Has the Damascus murderer returned to threatening to destroy Mount Lebanon?”
“We hope everybody would adhere to the rule of law because the state is the first and final front that protects us all.”
Another member of the Democratic Gathering bloc, MP Bilal Abdullah, told the Central New Agency Monday that the developments in Jahiliyeh were a message to obstruct the cabinet formation process.
Following the unrest, the government formation process was further complicated and is currently stuck at the representation of the March 8 Sunni deputies, despite ongoing efforts by caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to end the crisis.
The Democratic Gathering met on Monday and issued a statement calling on political forces to review their positions for Lebanon’s best interest and the country’s civil peace.
It revealed that it will hold a series of meetings with various powers in Lebanon, including the parliamentary blocs, political forces, General Labor Union and the Economic Council, in an attempt to urge everyone to assume their responsibility in saving the country.
