| Walid Jumblatt |
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Information AboutWalid Jumblatt |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WALID JUMBLATT | |
| 1949 births | |
| living people | |
| lebanese druze | |
| american university of beirut alumni | |
| lebanese politicians | |
| warlords | |
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Walid Jumblatt (, 1949 ), is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon and a prominent leader of the Druze community. The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janboulad family dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530-1580), governor of Aleppo . Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt , the founder of the party that Walid Jumblatt currently leads. During the Israel i occupation and subsequent withdrawal of Lebanon in 1982 and 1983 , Jumblatt's militia, backed by Soviet weaponry from Syria and possibly with the aid of Palestinian guerillas, overran sixty Maronite villages, indiscriminately killing thousands. This brutal campaign was launched in response to attempts by a segment of the Maronite leadership to ethnically clense Mount Lebanon of its Druze inhabitants. Jumblatt secured a Druze victory and solidified his position as leader of that community. The emerge on the winning side of the political issues and conflicts shaping Lebanon, from the turmoil of the 1975 - 1990 Civil War to Lebanon's reconstruction. Like several other sectarian leaders, he was a supporter of the Syria n Military presence (described as an occupation by anti-Syrian elements) in Lebanon after the civil war, but since the death of former Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad in 2000 , he has campaigned for the end of Syrian influence in Lebanon. This has pitted him against President Emile Lahoud , a strong supporter of Syria. After the assassination of , the United Nations 's report on the investigation of the Hariri assassination. The report criticizes Syria for the political tensions which preceded the assassination. The United States , the European Union and the United Nations have demanded a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's murder. Jumblatt has publicly spoken of his fear of being assassinated, like Hariri, because of his current stance towards Damascus. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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