Nasrallah, Jumblatt talk Lebanon future

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has met with the main Druze leader from Lebanon’s opposition camp, Walid Jumblatt, and discussed the latest developments.

Nasrallah and Progressive Socialist Party leader Jumblatt met at an undisclosed location in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, late Friday night.

The meeting came hours after Jumblatt, leader of 300,000 Druze, addressed a press conference wherein he announced his support for Hezbollah and Syria.

The two officials discussed the country’s present situation “as well as the future of Lebanon as a government and nation.”

They also touched on the political meltdown in Lebanon, which is left without a government after the Hezbollah-led coalition ministers resigned on January 12.

Lebanon’s unity government collapsed after 11 ministers resigned over tensions caused by the US-backed Special Tribunal (STL) for Lebanon in charge of investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005.

Hezbollah resorted to mass resignation after its demands for an urgent cabinet session over the US-sponsored STL crisis were rejected the previous day.

Jumblatt’s support for Hezbollah could give the opposition a veto over who will become Lebanon’s next prime minister.