Last update - 00:00 13/03/2008
Syria invites Lebanese PM to Arab summit
By Reuters
Syria on Thursday invited Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to an Arab summit in Damascus this month but he is not expected to attend because he blames Syria for Lebanon's political crisis.
Beirut's governing coalition say Syria and its allies in Lebanon have blocked the election of a new president and poisoned ties between Damascus and Arab states that support Siniora.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- which all support the Siniora cabinet -- are not expected to attend the March 29-30 summit unless Lebanon has a president by then.
Syrian foreign ministry official Ahmad Qawouk Arnous delivered the invitation to Fawzi Salloukh, the pro-Damascus foreign minister who resigned in November, 2006, at the start of a campaign by Syria-backed factions against the Siniora cabinet.
Salloukh, whose resignation was never accepted, said the invitation would be passed to Siniora upon his return from Dakar, where he is attending a summit of Islamic states.
"I received from his excellency an invitation addressed to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to attend the 20th Arab summit," Salloukh told reporters. "The ministry will hand over the letter to his premiership (Siniora) upon his return to Lebanon."
Syria controlled Lebanon from the end of its 1975-90 civil war to 2005 and still holds influence over some Lebanese factions, including the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement which is leading the opposition against Siniora.
The assassination that year of Rafik al-Hariri -- the former prime minister who had close ties to Saudi Arabia -- triggered international pressure that forced Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.
The governing coalition, which also has U.S. support, accuses the Damascus-backed opposition of trying to restore Syrian influence through its political campaign for effective veto power in cabinet.
The rival camps have agreed that army chief General Michel Suleiman should fill the presidency but his confirmation by parliament has been derailed by a dispute over the make-up of a cabinet to take office after his election.
The vote in parliament has been postponed 16 times. It is now scheduled for March 25, four days before the Arab meeting.
If Lebanon elects a president before the summit, then the new head of state will represent Lebanon at the meeting.
Lebanese political sources said Siniora's government would decide in due course whether to send a delegation to the summit but did not expect the prime minister to go himself in any case.