Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt charged on Tuesday that the Syrian regime was behind this weekend's torching of Danish government offices in Beirut and Damascus. 
Jumblatt, who heads Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party, maintained that undercover soldiers incited the riots intentionally, posing as civilians.
"The violence and burnings in Lebanon were the work of Syrian soldiers and workers dressed in civilian clothes," he said in an interview with WorldNetDaily.
"Syria is stirring trouble in the region. Regarding the burnings and protests in Damascus, it is very bizarre that a so-called secular totalitarian regime that controls everything was not able to control these demonstrations," he pointed out.
Angry demonstrators protesting the publication of controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad torched the Danish consulate as well as a Maronite church nearby.
"Those involved, including some arrested, were found to be people working for Syria, including Syrian soldiers disguised as civilians," Jumblatt said.
In neighboring Syria, both the Danish and Norwegian embassies were attacked and burned by protesters as well. The Swedish embassy was also damaged in the riots, while security forces managed to protect the French consulate from a similar fate despite rioters' attempts. Rioting in Lebanon and Syria over the cartoons scandal has been some of the most violent worldwide.
Jumblatt explained that he believed Assad had incited the violence in an effort to deflect attention from growing suspicions that Syria was behind last February's assassination of late Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri, as a signal to the world to cease its pressure on his regime, and as a means to show solidarity with the Arab world at a time when he has come under growing Arab criticism.
"Remember Assad's warnings to the international community that if he is put under pressure, chaos will prevail in the region," Jumblatt said, adding, "Also, I think Assad doesn't want to be isolated in the Muslim world, so he is pretending to be on the side of the Muslim cause by rioting against the cartoons."
"They were sent from remote areas in the south, a kind of orchestration. Even though clerics of al-Jamal Islaimya (an extremist Lebanese splinter faction) denounced violent protest, they couldn't control the Syrian saboteurs," he went on.
"Assad is playing with fire," he cautioned. "It can turn into massive violence around the Middle East. This is beyond irresponsible. These are reckless acts by a terrorist regime."
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
