Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday that his country was ready to cooperate to help resolve the political crisis in neighboring Lebanon.
Speaking on the opening session of the 20th Arab Summit, Assad said Syria is "fully prepared" to cooperate with Arab or non-Arab efforts to resolve the Lebanese political crisis on condition that "they are based on the Lebanese national consensus, the basis for stability in Lebanon."
The Syrian leader, also chairman of the summit, dismissed accusations that Damascus was hindering the presidential election in its neighbor.
He said that Syria has been pressured for over a year, most frequently and extensively during the last few months, "to interfere into the internal Lebanese affairs, but we say that we are ready to cooperate with any Arab or non-Arab efforts to end the crisis there."
"The key to a solution in Lebanon is in the hands of the Lebanese themselves. They have their own country, their own institutions and their own constitution and they are capable of doing that by themselves," added Assad.
"Any other role should be supportive to them, and not an alternative to their role," Assad continued.
Syria was eager to see the stability, sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, Assad stressed.
But he did not mention the boycott of Lebanon or the low-key representation by the Arab states allied to the pro-Western Lebanese government.
Only 11 Arab heads of state of the 22-member Arab League (AL), including Assad himself, attended the gathering.
Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II shunned the meeting amid a rift with Damascus over the Lebanese crisis. Lebanon boycotted the summit.
Lebanon is currently facing the most serious political deadlock since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. For the first time in its history, the president's seat has been vacant since former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud stepped down last November.
A long-awaited parliamentary session to elect a new president to succeed Lahoud has been postponed for 17 times till April 22.
Saudi Arabia and Syria support different political blocs in Lebanon, with Riyadh, along with its Western allies, backing the majority led by Saad Hariri in the Lebanese parliament (the Beirut governing coalition) while Damascus and its ally Tehran supporting the opposition led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Source:Xinhua
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