In a lengthy testimony within the “Witness to the Era” program, the former head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, presented his detailed account of the pivotal moments of the Mountain War and the events of the 1980s, addressing the roles of local and regional powers, and the backgrounds of the confrontations that broke out in 1983.
Jumblatt considered that the establishment of barriers and the deployment of Lebanese forces in the mountain constituted a direct prelude to the confrontations, describing the mountain war as “a major military and political explosion that took on a sectarian dimension.” He explained that the number of his forces at that time amounted to about 10,000 fighters, noting that Prince Majid Arslan did not have a military militia.
In the context of his talk about that stage, he revealed that he met Bashir Gemayel in Baabda in the presence of President Elias Sarkis, and asked him about the reason for sending his forces to the mountain. Gemayel replied that he wanted to protect the Christians, to which Jumblatt responded: “You are not protecting them like this.” He confirmed that he opposed Bashir Gemayel’s candidacy for the presidency in 1982, considering that he belonged to an extremist political school of the Lebanese right, and that imposing the idea of a “strong president” constituted a historical mistake among some Maronites, because the president of the republic must be accepted by all sects and not only strong within his sect.
He touched on the relationship with Amin Gemayel, noting that he visited him after Bashir’s assassination and offered him condolences, despite his harsh stances towards him later, pointing out that there were contacts between them and a meeting between them in Paris. It was also reported that Amin Gemayel considered that some Lebanese Forces leaders had become too strong to abide by his decisions after Bashir’s killing.
Regarding the military confrontations, Jumblatt indicated that brigades from the Lebanese Army joined the “Lebanese Right” during the Mountain War, but in return he confirmed that army officers were also on their side, pointing out that among the “heroes” of the battles was the Sunni officer Ibn Baalbek Al-Walid Sukkariyeh. He revealed that during the Battle of Bhamdoun, he requested tanks from General Hikmat Al-Shihabi, so two or three tanks were sent to him via Ahmed Jibril.
He addressed the external role, considering that the Mountain War witnessed the intervention of regional and international players, including Syria, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Israel, and the Palestinians, in the context of the broader confrontation during the Cold War. He explained that Syria supported the Druze and its allies within this framework, noting that the Americans’ intervention in bombing during the Souq al-Gharb battles was offset by the Syrians shooting down two American planes over Lebanon.
Jumblatt revealed that the attempt to assassinate him in December 1982 was not the reason for the rift with the Maronites as believed, explaining that Elie Hobeika later confessed to him that he was behind the attempt, and that he retracted the car bombing after learning that there were Americans with him.
He returned to the older roots of the conflict, recalling the events of 1860, noting that Al-Mukhtara was one of Fuad Pasha’s headquarters, and that the senior leaders were imprisoned there, while his great-grandfather, Saeed Jumblatt, was imprisoned in Beirut.
Jumblatt concluded his testimony by affirming that the stage was the product of a complex interplay between the Lebanese interior and regional and international balances, considering that understanding that era requires a political reading that goes beyond the sectarian dimension to the broader context of the conflict in the region.
