BEIRUT - As Sharq Al Awsat newspaper reported on Friday that MP Walid Jumblatt said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad wanted a bigger settlement on the Golan Heights issue and a dialogue with the United States.

In the interview he gave to the newspaper, Joumblatt declared that Assad linked direct Syrian-Israeli negotiations with the renewal of the Israeli cabinet and of the American administration to gain more time.

The leader of the PSP said that Syria may be trying to exploit the security situation in North Lebanon. The fighting that have been regularly breaking out since May in Tripoli and recently in Akkar could lead Damascus to interfere again in Lebanon, Joumblatt said, while explaining that this security situation also threatens Damascus’ security.