Jumblat to Nasrallah: Stop the Slide into Chaos

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Walid Jumblat urged Hizbullah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah to exert the efforts needed to stop Lebanon from sliding into the regional chaos, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Sunday.

Sources following up closely on the latest developments between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia said that Progressive Socialist Party leader Jumblat held a telephone conversation with Nasrallah and “urged him to exert efforts in order to prevent Lebanon from sliding into the chaos prevailing in the region.”

The conversation comes following a deterioration in the Saudi-Lebanese relations when Riyadh urged Saudis to leave Lebanon and to not travel there "for their safety", after the kingdom halted $4 billion programs funding French military supplies to the Lebanese army and military institutions.

Riyadh cut the aid in response to "hostile" positions linked to Hizbullah.

In that regard, Prime Minister Tammam Salam held a series of interviews with Saudi newspapers where he affirmed that relations with the Kingdom are doing well, the source told the daily on condition of anonymity.

But they pointed out that Salam's stances are not enough to improve the said relations.

Meanwhile some serious developments are expected to emerge at the governmental level following Wednesday's parliamentary meeting.

Unnamed sources told the newspaper that al-Mustaqbal bloc might boycott the cabinet sessions instead of resigning from the cabinet in protest to the government’s inability to take the appropriate stance and join the Arab consensus regrading the assaults that targeted the Saudi embassy and consulate in Tehran

Lebanon's foreign ministry declined to vote in favor of Saudi-backed resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers that denounced assaults against the Saudi embassy and consulate in Tehran late last year.