By Zhu Lei and Jia Xiaohua, Xinhua
Damascus : The highway leading to Damascus International Airport was closed down on Friday, available only to the motorcade of Arab delegations to attend the Arab summit due on March 29-30.
A senior official with the Information Ministry disclosed thatabout 50 special planes carrying Arab delegations will land at theairport.
In order to ensure safe landing of all the flights, the Civil Aviation General Administration of Syria decided to cancel all the commercial flights in and out of Damascus during Friday to Sunday, said the official on condition of anonymity, adding that the parking lot of the airport has been emptied for security reasons. The closedown is part of the traffic control measures adopted on March 25 by the Interior Ministry of Syria, the host of the20th Arab Summit.
Private vehicles are not allowed to park outside the five-star hotels which accommodate the delegations. Blockades are set up on the main roads to the summit venue and the press center on the southern outskirts of Damascus with armed soldiers examining every vehicle passing through.
Statistics from the Syrian Information Ministry showed thatworldwide journalists registered to cover the Damascus summitexceeded 850, setting a new record for the number of journalists to Arab summits.
The Syrian government has set up a newly-equipped press center inside Damascus International Fairgrounds, less than 1 km from th emain venue — Palace of Umayyad.
Labeled by Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Talib Kady Amin as the “biggest press center in the history of Arab summits,” the press center is composed of four halls — studios for television stations, editing rooms for radio stations, reports services for print media and a VIP interview room, with 40 sets of LCD televisions broadcasting programs related to Arab summits. Despite threats from some Arab countries to boycott the Damascus summit due to Lebanon’s political impasse, Syria has expressed faith in hosting a successful Arab summit.” The first success recorded by the summit prior to its opening is that it will be held in Damascus as scheduled in spite of the attempts of pressure and blackmail,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walidal-Muallem told reporters at a joint press conference with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov last week. Syria is accused of obstructing the presidential elections in Lebanon through its allies in the opposition led by the ShiiteHezbollah movement, a charge Damascus denied.
The Lebanese presidential seat has been vacant since former President Emile Lahoud stepped down on Nov. 24, 2007 at the end of his term and the sharply-divided Lebanese parliament has delayed the elections for 17 times without a consensus.
Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt support the ruling parliamentary majority led by Saad Hariri while Damascus and its ally Tehran back the opposition.
Damascus was also alleged to be involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005 and the following murders of anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, allegations strongly denied by Syria.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan had reportedly threatened to boycott the Damascus summit if Syria does not facilitate theelection of Lebanese army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as Lebanese president.
But hope for a last-ditch breakthrough in solving the most serious political deadlock facing Lebanon since the end of the1975-1990 civil war faded on Monday when Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a parliamentary session to elect Lebanon’s president scheduled Tuesday to April 22.Saudi Arabia and Egypt subsequently announced only low-level delegations to the Damascus summit respectively, a reflection of strained ties with the host over the political crisis in Lebanon On Monday, Saudi permanent representative to the Arab League (AL) Ahmad Qattan said here that he would head his country’s delegation to the summit, ruling out the presence of Saudi King Abdullah or Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The absence of the Saudi monarch is particularly sensitive, not just due to his political weight but also because he is the outgoing chair who should hand over the presidency to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In Beirut, the Lebanese cabinet declared on Tuesday a boycott to the summit, urging the Arabs to tackle the political crisis in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government urged “Arab brethren to shepherd Lebanese-Syrian relations” to help Lebanon spread its sovereignty over its territories.
Syrian sources said that Damascus is willing to work to make this year’s Arab summit an opportunity for mending fences, especially with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, “but not at all prices.” As far as Damascus is concerned, there are certain basic foreign policy guidelines it is not willing to compromise, said the sources.
During talks with AL Secretary General Amr Moussa on the summit agenda on Tuesday, al-Assad stressed Syria’s keenness to enhance Arab solidarity and the importance of outlining proper mechanismsfor the implementation of the Arab summit resolutions. Moussa told reporters afterwards that al-Assad will preside over meetings of the upcoming Arab summit from “the moment he enters the hall.”
During a joint press conference with Moussa on Wednesday evening, the Syrian foreign minister reiterated that the Damascus summit is a summit for joint Arab action and solidarity, and the issue of inter-Arab relations will continue along the year. When the Syrian president presides over the Arab summit, he will continue his efforts for unity of Arab ranks and consolidating the joint Arab cooperation, said Muallem.