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Written by General Editor
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Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt is the leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party.
He is seen by many as the country's political weathervane - consistently emerging on the winning side through the twists and turns of the 1975-90 civil war and its troubled aftermath.
He was a supporter of Syria after the war but, since the death of strongman Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. Jumblatt has spoken openly of the fear that he - like murdered former PM Rafik Hariri - may face assassination because of this stance.
He not only commands the loyalty of members of the Druze community - a secretive offshoot of Shia Islam whose adherents make up about 10% of the population - but is admired by members of other religious minorities in Lebanon.
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