Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "An Ape Unknown to Nature, a Creature That Is Only Half-Man."

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 14, 2007.

Walid Jumblatt: We have come to Freedom Square to tell you, oh tyrant of Damascus, you ape unknown to nature, you snake from which even the snakes have fled, you whale vomited by the ocean, you wild desert beast, you creature that is only half-man, you Israeli product at the expense of the corpses of the South Lebanese, you liar and arch-killer in Iraq, you criminal blood-shedder in Syria and Lebanon – we have come to say that the words of the great poet Nizar Qabani apply to you. He said: “Every twenty years comes an armed man to slaughter unity in its cradle and to kill the dreams.”

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This year, however, the [international] tribunal will come, bringing with it punishment, justice, and the death sentence. Long live Lebanon.