BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt has pledged not to give up on Prime Minister Najib Mikati. His vow comes in the wake of efforts by the Druze MP to patch up ties with old allies.

“I won’t risk changing alliances,” Jumblatt said in remarks published Friday by local newspaper Al-Akhbar.

To those who believe Jumblatt has begun to shift his alliance, he said: “I will continue to stand alongside Mikati because I believe in this alliance.”

His remarks came following assurances made by Jumblatt that mending ties with one-time allies in his former, much larger Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc should not be considered as a move to revive his allegiance to the coalition, Al-Akhbar wrote.

“This relationship is personal and will not be spoiled by politics,” Jumblatt stressed.

Turning to the deal cut to finance the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Jumblatt hailed Mikati as well as Speaker Nabih Berri for their “excellent work.”

He played down the fact that he did not meet former Prime Minister Saad Hariri while both men were in Paris last month.

“I did not ask for a meeting and neither did he,” Jumblatt simply said.