Lebanon’s Druze chief mocks Syria summons

Lebanese Druze political leader Walid Jumblatt mocked Friday Syrian court summonses for him and a Lebanese journalist issued a day earlier.

A Lebanese judicial source told Agence France Presse Thursday that a Syrian court issued summons for Jumblatt, the head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party, and Lebanese journalist Fares Khashan, both outspoken critics of the Damascus regime.

Jumblatt said Friday in a statement that he was waiting for the Syrian state to send him a list of the expenses of the lawsuit as the norms stipulate.

“And I will not forget to add this lawsuit to the file of other cases: I will make a catalog out of them and distribute it to friends for free!” he added.

The judicial source told AFP that the summons was from the criminal court in Syria and that the two were being called for a session on June 1 for questioning.

The two are accused of undermining the authority of the Syrian state, the source said.

Jumblatt said Friday he never intended to undermine the Syrian state and had called for a political solution in Lebanon’s neighbor “after the [President Bashar] Assad regime committed murders and crimes” and forced the displacement of millions of Syrians both inside and to neighboring country.