Arab FMs to meet in Beirut Monday: AL official

Foreign ministers from Arab countries will hold an extra-ordinary meeting in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Monday, the Cairo-based Arab League (AL) announced Friday.

A senior AL official told Egypt's official MENA news agency that the emergency meeting, proposed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faysal, was welcomed by several Arab states, including Egypt and Algeria.

Al Secretary General Amr Moussa will take part in the meeting, which will look into means to support Lebanon in the face of the brutal Israeli offensive, said his assistant Ahmed bin Helli.

All Arab foreign ministers were invited to attend the Beirut meeting, Helli was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced Friday that its minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit will lead a delegation to the Beirut emergency ministerial meeting.

MENA quoted a ministry spokesman as saying that Abul-Gheit held contacts with a number of Arab foreign ministers to arrange for their visit to Beirut on board an Egyptian C-130 plane.

The consideration of the ministerial meeting came after Arab leaders failed to hold an extraordinary summit over Israel's offensive in Lebanon.

On July 18, the Arab League representatives met in Cairo headquarters on the possibility of holding the summit meeting, but failed to reach any agreement.

However, an Israeli raid in southern Lebanese village of Qana Sunday, which killed some 54 Lebanese, most of them children, sparked world outrage, especially in the Arab world.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa headed to Jordan on Wednesday for talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II over the Arab reaction to the refusal of a ceasefire in Lebanon by some world powers, MENA reported.

After Jordan, Moussa will probably start a regional tour on Saturday to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The expected tour came as part of ongoing consultations to create a unified Arab stance on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, despite the mounting call for a ceasefire.

Violence between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah erupted on July 12 after Hezbollah guerillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight during cross-border attacks.

Israel has since waged massive assaults in Lebanon and expanded its ground operations while Hezbollah has showered Israel with rockets.

In a video statement to a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said that over 900 Lebanese people had been killed and about 3,000 people wounded in Israel's over-three-week-old offensive.

On the Israeli side, over 60 Israelis have also been killed in the conflict, according to media counts.

Source: Xinhua