Jumblat Says his Meeting With Hariri Will Not be ‘Secret’

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said on Wednesday that if he held talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri the meeting will be announced and would not be “secret.”

“We didn’t hold a meeting, why are you making a big fuss out of it?” he wondered in remarks published in al-Liwaa newspaper.

Media reports had said that Hariri could meet with Jumblat during his visit to Paris.

The reports said that Hariri will also hold talks with March 14 officials who were converging on the French capital to attend the wedding of former Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh’s daughter.

However, sources close to Hariri denied that he would hold meetings with Lebanese officials in France.

In remarks to An Nahar daily Sunday, the sources said that Hariri is currently in Riyadh.

Sources close to Jumblat noted to al-Liwaa on Wednesday that the political situation is critical, stressing that the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri has created a dispute.

“Hizbullah and its Syrian ally don’t want to fund the STL amid fears that they would push PM (Najib) Miqati to resign,” the sources said.