Upon graduation, Jumblatt worked as a reporter for
An Nahar in Beirut.
Assem Qanso of the
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs. On 12 January 1982, he survived a car bomb explosion near his house in Beirut during the
Lebanese Civil War. In an Al Jazeera interview decades later, Jumblatt said that
Elie Hobeika was responsible for the attack and said that Hobeika told him in a meeting in Damascus that he wanted to kill him. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, occupying its entire southern half and dismantling the PLO stronghold in the country. After the evacuation of remaining PLO militias from Beirut in September 1982, Walid’s Progressive Socialist Party saw a resurgence following the Lebanese Army’s attempt to return to formerly occupied areas. In July 1983, after
Amine Gemayel became president, Suleiman Frangieh,
Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt formed a coalition of armed factions led by his party, known as the
Lebanese National Resistance Front, informally known as “Jammoul” to challenge Gemayel's rule and the pact between Lebanon and
Israel that was financially supported by the US. Jumblatt served as minister of public works, transport and tourism in the National Unity cabinet led by then prime minister Rashid Karami, which was formed in May 1984. His main ally during the war was
Amal Movement's leader,
Nabih Berri. in a conference on Afghan issues in Tehran, Iran in 1989 In the 1996
Rafic Hariri cabinet, Walid Jumblatt was appointed Minister for Refugees. He was a supporter of
Syria, but following the death of Syrian President
Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. Jumblatt's close links with the Syrian old guard alienated him from the new presidency of
Bashar al-Assad. In the
2009 general elections, Jumblatt won a seat from
Shouf as part of the
14 March Alliance list. Following issues with Hezbollah's community, his son
Taymour Jumblatt fled to France with his family after multiple death threats which prevented him from joining the local political scene. With the onset of the
Syrian civil war, Jumblatt and the PSP moved towards an anti-Assad stance. Jumblatt has been crucial in negotiations regarding the Syrian Druze during the Syrian Civil War, and has stated about
al-Nusra Front "I cannot classify, like Western countries, Nusra as terrorist because most of Nusra are Syrians. The regime of Bashar obliged the Syrians to join Nusra". After
al-Nusra Front allegedly killed
20 Druze villagers in Qalb Loze on 10 June 2015, Jumblatt responded that "Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad's policies pushed Syria into this chaos". Jumblatt believes that the order to kill his father came from
Hafez al-Assad. He said he would rather "commit a political suicide" than reconcile with his son
Bashar al-Assad. In 2014, Jumblatt declared himself in favor of the legalisation of
cannabis in Lebanon. In 2015, he admitted hiding the Swedish spy
Stig Bergling during the early 1990s in a remote place in Lebanon upon the request of Russian authorities. On 4–7 May 2015, Jumblatt testified at the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon related to the investigations of the
assassination of Rafic Hariri. In May 2017, the trial of four men accused of conspiring to assassinate Walid Jumblatt began. In late May 2023, Walid Jumblatt declared his resignation as leader of the Progressive Socialist Party after a 46-year tenure. Around 2,000 supporters gathered in
Ain Zhalta, a Druze town in the
Chouf mountains, where members of the Progressive Socialist Party named political heir,
Taymour Jumblatt, as their new leader. Taymour was the sole contender. ==Personal life==