BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt urged Russia and Iran Tuesday to reconsider their approach on the crisis in Syria, one based on the principle of “the power of the powerless.”

Jumblatt also urged the Druze in Syria not to take part in the crackdown against anti-government protests, now in its tenth month.

“If only Russia would consider applying the principle of ‘the power of the powerless” in its approach on its ally, Syria, and the need to acknowledge that security solutions will not solve the current [Syria] crisis which can only be solved through a fundamental regime change,” Jumblatt said in a statement.

“If only the Islamic Republic [Iran] would commit to the principle of ‘the power of the powerless’ and for Imam Khomeini’s descendants to remember that this principle had been applied during the confrontation with the shah of Iran and led to his downfall,” he added.

Jumblatt cited similarities between the late “divine intellectual,” former President Vaclav Havel, and his father - the late Kamal Jumblatt.

He said Havel’s famous saying “the power of the powerless” was akin to his father’s view that “historical experiences have proven that people’s actions achieve progress and do not go backward.”

In his essay, Havel described “the power of the powerless” as a societal paradigm in which citizens were forced to "live within a lie" under the communist regime.

The PSP chief said “the power of the powerless” was behind the Arab revolutions that are demanding freedom and dignity.

Addressing the Islamic Republic, Jumblatt said: "Iranian missiles may have extensive power but the echo of the words of the great [Iranian] poet Saadi Shirazi has a stronger effect.”

Jumblatt, who has repeatedly called for reforms to take place in Syria, also called on the Druze community in Syria not to take part in the crackdown by Syrian authorities.

“They [Druze], too, know that peoples’ actions don’t go backward ... time has come to refrain from cooperating with police and military units in their crackdown on the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said, pointing out that dozens of them had returned in coffins as a result of fighting fellow Syrian citizens.

The United Nations estimates that over 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the crackdown since anti-government protests started in March 2011. Syrian authorities deny targeting civilians, blaming their deaths on “armed gangs.”