Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Thursday’s helicopter shooting required a discussion of Lebanon’s defense strategy around the national dialogue table as soon as possible.

Jumblatt condemned the “heinous act,” in which gunmen shot at a military helicopter flying over the town of Soujoud in southern Lebanon on Thursday, killing First Lieutenant Samer Hanna, and requested an immediate investigation into the shooting that would pinpoint who would be held responsible.

Jumblatt said discussing Lebanon’s defense strategy would consolidate all security forces’ efforts in one and the same direction, “that is, against the Israeli enemy.”

But the PSP leader said disarmament was a more tricky matter in which the Lebanese state would be the sole armed force on Lebanese territories, yet in which “the privacy of the Resistance and South” would be preserved.

Jumblatt called on all political parties to avoid any acts that would undermine military strength and unity and reject any attacks on the army “in any form and under any title or headline.”

On the appointment of a Lebanese army commander, which was expected to be the center of discussion during Friday’s cabinet meeting before the shooting, Jumblatt told the Progressive Socialist Party’s official website that he had not changed his position, which was based on “principles.”

“I would have imagined we did not need the maneuvers in which a so-called list of characteristics [for the army commander] was set,” he noted.

“I will only request that these plays not be repeated in the future, especially after the next [army commander] appointment,” Jumblatt concluded.  

-NOW Staff