MUKHTARA, Lebanon: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt warned Sunday of the threat of strife in Lebanon as a result of the potential repercussions of the ongoing popular uprising in Syria and sectarian tension in the southern city of Sidon.

He also said that the outbreak of strife in Syria and Lebanon would render the escalating rift over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon a minor issue.“What is happening in Lebanon and around us, namely in Syria, might make the issue of the tribunal – excuse me for using these words – a minor detail if strife broke out in Lebanon and [hopefully] it won’t. But we should bear responsibility for every word we say,” Jumblatt said at a news conference in his hometown of Mukhtara in the Chouf mountains commemorating the birthday of his late father, Kamal Jumblatt.

Jumblatt’s warning came as former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah engaged in a war of words over the STL following Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s decision to pay Lebanon’s $32 million share to the tribunal’s annual budget.

It also came following an incident in the southern city of Sidon that raised Sunni-Shiite tension over Ashura.

“The provocative and horrifying remarks in Sidon on the occasion of Ashura were humiliating and unacceptable. We thank Sidon’s Mufti Sheikh Salim Sousan and others who condemned these remarks, even though in my opinion it was not enough because the matter could leave a deep wound in the Lebanese community and among the Muslims,” Jumblatt said.

“There must be a bigger reaction over what happened and consequently [there should be] solidarity against the provocative remarks,” he added.

Jumblatt was referring to Sheikh Ahmad Asir’s speech in Sidon Friday, in which Asir attacked the Shiite community, raising sectarian tension within the city’s multi-religious communities. Asir was responding to a Shiite sheikh who appeared on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV the day before to criticize Aisha, a wife of the Prophet Mohammad.

Jumblatt also criticized the row between Hariri and Nasrallah over the STL’s funding. “The debate over the international tribunal and the issue of false witnesses between Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and Sheikh Saad Hariri is unnecessary,” he said.

He added that neither the issue of witnesses who misled the STL investigation, raised by Nasrallah in his speech Thursday, nor Hariri’s sharp response to the Hezbollah leader is “useful or positive.”

“Let the tribunal take its course and at the same time we understand Hezbollah’s reservations about the path of the tribunal and the politicized accusation that has been issued,” Jumblatt said. “The path of international courts is long and it might take years if not decades.”

The Higher Islamic Council, Lebanon’s highest Sunni body, praised Mikati’s decision to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding. A statement issued after the council’s meeting chaired by Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani Saturday and attended by Mikati and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Mikati’s stance upheld the “Islamic principles” adopted at a previous meeting of the council.

“The Lebanese did not and will not abandon their demand for revealing the truth in the assassination of martyr [former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri ... and they will not abandon their martyrs,” the statement said.

Turning to Syria, Jumblatt said an Arab League peace plan is the only way to end an eight-month-old uprising there.

He praised attempts by the Syrian opposition, the Syrian National Council, and the rebel army, the Free Syrian Army, to unify political and military efforts with a view to controlling military operations and defending peaceful demonstrations.

“I have been told of reports about acts of kidnapping and sectarian killings that began in Homs and other cities by the two sides or the multilateral sides which I will not name. This matter might destroy the path of the Syrian peaceful revolution as a result, unfortunately, of the Syrian regime’s continued crackdown [on protesters] and its failure to respond to repeated appeals, the latest of which was yesterday by the Arab League to accept the Arab initiative which in my opinion is [the key] to Syria’s salvation,” Jumblatt said.“Syria’s salvation is through the Arab League initiative ... There is no magical solution that would see the collapse of the regime ... whereby the opposition would take over power. There should be a dialogue to arrive at a clear transitional period and a multi-party Syria as contained in the Arab initiative,” he added.

Jumblatt, who has repeatedly called for dialogue between opposition groups and the Syrian government, said that undisciplined armed groups, known as “shabbiha,” are damaging to the reputation of the Syrian army and government.

He renewed his calls for the Druze in Syria living in the Jabal Arab region not to join the shabbiha in their fight against protesters. “This is my appeal to Jabal al-Arab. Don’t be dragged into fighting your brothers in Homs, Hama, Daraa or other areas,” he said.