BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt took a further step Tuesday in breaking ranks with embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad by calling on Russia and Iran to convince their ally, Syria, that a fundamental change in the regime is the only solution for the current unrest there, now in its 10th month.

However, Jumblatt’s call fell short of publicly urging Assad to step down as he faces the gravest challenge to his 11-year rule from pro-democracy protesters demanding a regime change. Jumblatt also urged fellow Druze in Syria not to join the Syrian army and police in the brutal crackdown on protesters.

In the meantime, the parliamentary Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri hoped that the Arab Spring uprising which began in Tunisia last year will go on in the New Year until the march of change and democracy has been completed in the Arab world.

Jumblatt called on Russia and Iran, which staunchly support the Assad regime against a popular upheaval that erupted in mid-March, to reconsider their approach on the crisis in Syria, one based on the principle of “the power of the weak.”

He cited Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president, who died last month at the age of 75. Havel was a dissident playwright who spoke of “the power of the weak” before leading the Czechoslovakian “velvet revolution” and was one of the fathers of the East European pro-democracy movement that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“All historic experiences have proven that the peoples’ movement moves forward and does not go backward. What has been built on null and void will not survive,” Jumblatt said in a statement.

Referring to the current wave of popular uprisings in the Arab world that has so far led to the overthrow of the leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Jumblatt said: “The power of the weak has propelled and is propelling the Arab revolutions demanding freedom, dignity and pride.”

“If only the Russian leadership would consider the principle of ‘the power of the weak’ in its approach toward the current situation through which its ally, Syria, is passing and the need to acknowledge that security solutions will not solve the crisis which can only be solved through a fundamental change in the regime,” Jumblatt said.

He added that it might be better for Russia to advise the Assad regime that a rotation of power was more important than clinging to it and shedding blood.

Jumblatt issued the same appeal to Iran, which is linked in a strategic alliance with the Assad regime.

“If only the Islamic Republic [in Iran] would also consider the principle of ‘the power of the weak’ 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 in a major historic struggle,” 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,” he added, referring to Shirazi’s call for undoing injustice on the Syrian people.

Since the uprising began in Syria in mid-March, Jumblatt, who walked out of the March 14 coalition in August 2009 and took a pro-Syria stance in January 2011 that led to the toppling of Hariri’s government, has repeatedly called on Assad to carry out political reforms and avoid a security crackdown on protesters.

In his Tuesday’s statement, Jumblatt also called on the Druze community in Syria not to take part in Syrian authorities’ crackdown on protesters. “They [Druze] in Syria, too, know that peoples’ movement does not go backward ... The time has come to refrain from joining police and military units which are carrying out a crackdown against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said. He added that scores of Druze who joined the Syrian army had returned to their parents in coffins as a result of battling 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, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world. Syrian authorities deny targeting civilians, blaming their deaths on “armed gangs.”

The violence has drawn broad international condemnation and sanctions, but Assad remains defiant. The Arab League sent in about 100 observers a week ago to verify Syria’s compliance with the organization’s plan that requires the regime to remove security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and free political prisoners. Syria agreed to the plan, intended to halt the crackdown completely, on Dec. 19. The Arab League’s chief acknowledged Monday that killings have continued even with the monitors working on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Future bloc hoped that the Arab Spring wave that began in Tunisia last year will continue in the New Year until “the march of change and development has been completed and democratic systems, traditions and practices have been spread throughout the Arab countries so that the new generations can have the chance to express their aspirations and hopes and participate in making their future away from killings, repression and domination.”

“The Future bloc has announced its position since the beginning of these blessed uprisings. It reiterates today its standing on the side of the march of Arab change and development and on the side of the sovereignty of democratic systems and expansion of political participation,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Referring to the Arab monitors’ mission in Syria, the bloc voiced “great concern over the continued killings, sniping and shooting on peaceful civilian demonstrators” and the failure of Syrian authorities to release political prisoners and allow media outlets into the country.