Walid Jumblatt reiterates his support for President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in the implementation of the state arms monopoly. In a message posted on X Sunday, November 8, 2026, the former president of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) believes that the results of the American elections do not change the Lebanese priority: to reserve arms to the state.
His remarks were reported the same evening by Al-Anbaa, the PSP newspaper. « What happened in the American elections doesn’t directly affect us, » he writes, according to a translation of his message into Arabic. He recalled that he had repeatedly called for the exclusivity of weapons for the State and called for support for the President’s and Government’s policy on that point.
The statement is therefore prior to its resumption by several media on Monday, 9 November. It does not include a timetable for disarmament or an announcement of an agreement with Hezbollah. It expresses political support for the objective defended by the two heads of the executive.
Support for principle, in the continuity of its calls for dialogue
This position comes after several weeks in which Jumblatt defended the internal dialogue while criticizing certain diplomatic choices. In a interview granted to L’Orient-Le Jour on 27 Octoberhe had rejected the threats of internal confrontation attributed to Hezbollah and called for calming tensions.
He also challenged the idea that a change of leadership in Israel would be sufficient to transform the situation in Lebanon. His statement of 8 November again moves attention to internal responsibilities: the line to be followed on weapons should not depend on the outcome of a foreign election.
This support, however, does not lead to the conclusion that its reservations about the terms of the Regulation have disappeared. On September 23, in a other interview in the Orient-Le JourJumblatt believed that the destruction in South Lebanon should prompt Hezbollah to discuss its arsenal with the authorities. At the same time, he defended continued efforts to secure Israeli withdrawal.
The precedent for the delivery of PSP weapons
The Druze leader can also invoke a decision taken in his own camp. At a press conference on 26 June 2025, he announced that the weapons held by the PSP had been handed over to the army about three weeks earlier. He explained that he had informed Joseph Aoun of their presence in Mukhtara and requested the intervention of the competent services.
According to report published at the timeThis weapon was sent after the clashes in May 2008. This precedent sheds light on its insistence on an old claim, without prejudging the conditions and scope of disarmament of other formations.
A Lebanese priority in the face of external uncertainties
In its comment of 9 novemberAl-Anbaa puts this declaration in line with the PSP: placing weapons and the decision on war and peace under the authority of the institutions. The partisan newspaper links this direction with the protection of Lebanon and the denial of further losses in the South.
The contribution of Jumblatt’s message is thus due to the clarity of his support to the executive on this issue. It reaffirms the objective of the arms monopoly, without announcing a new procedure to achieve it. The debate on the method Libnanews had already analysed in the relations between Jumblatt and Aounremains separate from this agreement on principle.
Photo of illustration: Walid Jumblatt at diplomatic meetings in Clemenceau, photograph aired on November 5, 2026. Credit: National Information Agency (NNA).
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