Region | Lebanon

Saudi Arabia and Syria spar over Lebanon

Arab League mediation on the presidential vote deadlock continued on Thursday even as Saudi Arabia and Syria got embroiled in a new row over Lebanon.

  • Gulf News Report
  • Published: 00:14 January 18, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Amr Mousa (second from left) meets with Michel Aoun (left), Ameen Gemayel (second from right) and Sa'ad Hariri at the parliament in Beirut, on Thursday.
  • Image Credit: AP

Dubai: Arab League mediation on the presidential vote deadlock continued on Thursday even as Saudi Arabia and Syria got embroiled in a new row over Lebanon.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa succeeded on Thursday in bringing together governing coalition leader Sa'ad Al Hariri and Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun for the first time in nearly three months to find a solution to the impasse which has paralysed government for more than a year and left Lebanon without a president since November.

Reuters quoted a political source as saying the meeting focused on an Arab initiative which calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president.

Search for consensus

The meeting took place hours after Syria hit back at Saudi Arabia for criticising its role in Lebanon, saying Damascus could not force its Lebanese allies to accept a solution to the country's crisis. "Dealing with Syria as if it was still in Lebanon or as if its allies are a tool represents an insult to a large proportion of Leb-anese," Syrian Information Minister Mohsin Bilal told reporters.

"Reaching consensus in Lebanon is a joint Arab responsibility," he said.

"Saudi Arabia plays a big role in Lebanon. It has allies who boast about their alliance with Saudi Arabia," he added.

The comments came as an apparent response to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal's earlier call to Damascus to use its influence with its allies in the Lebanese opposition to carry out the Arab League plan to deal with the Lebanese crisis.

"Egypt and Saudi Arabia should persuade their own friends in the Lebanese majority to accept a solution," Bilal said. Rejecting hints by Egypt that Syria's position as president of the Arab summit could be compromised if the Lebanon crisis was not resolved, Bilal said the meeting would be held on time.

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