BEIRUT: Lebanese Druze chief Walid Jumblatt met with Hezbollah's top leader late Friday, a statement said, hours after he announced he would side with the Shia group as a political crisis deepens in Lebanon.
"Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah received ... Walid Jumblatt late this evening," read a brief statement released by Hezbollah's media relations department.
"The talks covered the position MP Jumblatt announced at his press conference earlier today as well as the future of Lebanon as a government and nation," the statement said.
It did not elaborate.
The meeting comes hours after Jumblatt threw his weight behind the Iranian-backed militant group, positioning himself as a potential kingmaker in deciding who will be the next premier after Hezbollah last week forced the collapse of the country's unity government.
"I hereby ... confirm my party's position by the side of Syria and the resistance (Hezbollah)," Jumblatt told reporters, referring to his former arch-foes.
His announcement marked a striking shift of alliance for a man who once staunchly backed Lebanon's embattled caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri against the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
Hariri's Saudi- and US-backed coalition has 60 seats in the 128-seat parliament against 57 for the camp of Hezbollah, which has categorically rejected Hariri's bid to head a new government.
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