Jumblatt: Iran Playing Key Role in Resolving Syrian Crisis

 (FNA)- Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Lebanese Druze who also leads the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), reiterated Iran’s important role in resolving the Syrian crisis.

“Iran plays a key role in the resolution of the crisis in Syria,” Jumblatt said in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Qazanfar Roknabadi in Beirut on Tuesday.

He underlined the importance of the statements and views expressed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the need for the exit of all foreign-backed armed rebels groups from Syria.

“I remember that Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stressed the need for Lebanon’s non-interference in Syria’s affairs four months ago and Rouhani and Berri have close stances in this regard,” the Lebanese politician said.

Jumblatt pointed to the UN rescinding its invitation to Iran to attend Geneva II conference under the US pressure, and said, “Iran will undoubtedly play a key role in an appropriate time … in resolving Syria’s problems.”

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif renewed Iran’s support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and said the Muslim country’s people should decide their own fate at the ballot box.

“The fate of the Syrians should be determined through the ballot box,” Zarif said in a meeting with former French Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette in Tehran.

The Iranian foreign underlined the need for a halt to bloodshed in Syria, and said, “The westerners themselves admit that election in Syria will have a result other than what they claim.”

Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that Tehran is in favor of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition groups to create stability in the Middle Eastern country.

Last November, Iran hosted a meeting between the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to encourage them to start talks to find a political solution to their problems. The National Dialogue Conference kicked off work in Tehran mid November with the motto of 'No to Violence, Yes to Democracy".

The meeting brought together almost 200 representatives of various Syrian ethnicities, political groups, minorities, the opposition, and state officials.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists.

Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.