More Arab leaders skip Syria summit

Damascus: More Arab kings and presidents on Friday joined the long list of leaders staying away from an Arab summit hit by a campaign to punish the Syrian hosts for backing the Lebanese opposition.

Diplomats say conservative Arab leaders have tried to use the threat of a poor turnout at the summit to put pressure on Syria to give the green light to the election of a new Lebanese president .

Veteran Syrian journalist Thabet Salem said Syria still aimed to show it was a "no surrender" country whose policies were in line with popular Arab sentiment.

"The United States has been working non-stop to weaken the summit, which confirms the emergence of two axes in the Arab world. Syria is virtually alone on one side," Salem told reporters.

The Yemeni vice president will represent his country and Jordan will send only its permanent representative at the Arab League to the annual two-day meeting opening on Saturday.

The Lebanese government is boycotting the event, and its closest allies - Saudi Arabia and Egypt - announced earlier this week that they would send low-level delegations.

Bahrain, which is close to the Saudis, sent a deputy prime minister.

Diplomats and commentators say the United States has been the driving force behind the campaign to dissuade Arab leaders from going to Syria, which prides itself on its resistance to US and Israeli policies.

"The Americans have been working on ensuring low-level representation in the run-up to the summit. We are seeing now a snowball effect," said one diplomat in the Syrian capital.

Another diplomat noted that Saudi Arabia made its decision shortly after US Vice President Dick Cheney visited the kingdom last week.