Veteran politician Walid Jumblatt: "Lebanon cannot afford any adventure." Photo: Twitter.

Following Sunday’s alleged strike by the Israeli air force on Qunaitra in the Golan Heights, in which a top Iranian general was killed along with leading Hezbollah operatives, some of Lebanon’s leading politicians have urged the Islamist organization not to retaliate from Lebanese territory.

Leading the call was Walid Jumblatt, the veteran Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party. “Lebanon cannot afford any adventure,” Jumblatt said in remarks published on Tuesday by local daily Al-Mustaqbal. “What happened in Qunaitra on Sunday was an attack on Syrian territory and not Lebanese territory.”

Jumblatt added: “We have nothing to do with what is happening in Syria. We are interested in our occupied lands in Kfar Shouba Hills and the Shebaa Farms.”

Jumblatt warned against being dragged into a new war with Israel, “while praising Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s situational awareness and good judgment,” The Daily Star reported.

Sejaan Azzi, leader of the Kataeb Party, echoed Jumblatt’s concerns.

“The Israeli raid took place in Syria, which requires that any response, should Hezbollah decide to respond, be carried out from Syria, not Lebanon, which is committed to resolution 1701,” Azzi said. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed after the war between Israel and Hezbollah in August 2006, called for a full cessation of hostilities and the disarmament of all armed groups, including Hezbollah.

Another Lebanese parliamentarian, Atef Majdalani, warned, “If Hezbollah responds from Lebanese territory, Hezbollah would be implicating Lebanon in war. Even if Hezbollah carried out an attack from Syrian territory, this action threatens Lebanon and the Lebanese.”