Arab leaders reiterated their commitment to an Arab initiative to assist Lebanon in overcoming its political crisis in the Damascus Declaration issued at the end of the 20th Arab Summit on Sunday.
In the declaration read out by the Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa, Arab leaders and representatives also called on feuding Lebanese factions to support the efforts of Moussa in resolving their months-old political dilemma.
Moussa, so far, has hosted several rounds of marathon discussions between Lebanon's pro-Western ruling parliamentary majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition backed by Syria and Iran with focus on the Arab initiative, but failed to break the deadlock.
The Arab initiative, which was approved in Cairo on Jan. 5,calls for the immediate election of army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, formation of a unity government and adoption of an electoral law.
Lebanese presidential seat has been vacant since former President Emile Lahoud ended his term on Nov. 24, 2007, and the Lebanese parliament has postponed a parliamentary session to elect a new president for 17th times amid the political impasse.
Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt have blamed Syria, which was the dominant political and military force in Lebanon for nearly three decades, for obstructing the election.
But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied again charges of meddling in Lebanon in his opening address of the Arab summit on Saturday.
The two-day Damascus summit only gathered 11 Arab leaders, including Assad himself, a mere half of the AL's 22 members. Lebanon boycotted the summit, while pro-Western Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan sent only low-key delegations to the gathering in a snub to Damascus.
Source:Xinhua
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