Walid Jumblatt (born 7 August 1949) was the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon, succeeding his assassinated father Kamal Jumblatt.
Biography[]
Walid Jumblatt was born on 7 August 1949 to a family of Druze Kurds in Lebanon, and in 1982 he graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration. His father was Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the Progressive Socialist Party and Lebanese National Movement who was assassinated in 1977 by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Wlid initially worked as a reporter upon graduation, but in July 1983 Jumblatt, Suleiman Frangieh, and Rashid Karami formed the Syria-backed National Salvation Front to fight against Israel. During the Lebanese Civil War, he allied himself with the Amal Movement and Syria, but after the war's end and the rise of President Bashar al-Assad, he became an opponent of Syria. He was indifferent towards Hezbollah - saying that they did a good job at forcing Israel out of Lebanon, but may have had other motives besides helping the country - and also towards the al-Nusra Front during the Syrian Civil War. Jumblatt said that the chaos in Syria drove people to join the al-Nusra Front, and he asked for no inciting words after the Qalb Loze massacre of 20 Druze villagers on 10 June 2015, defending the al-Nusra Front despite the atrocity that they committed.