By Xinhua,
Cairo : Arab foreign ministers late Sunday wrapped up an emergency meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS)council on the renewed crisis in Lebanon, deciding to dispatch a high-level delegation to inspect the situation there.
The delegation will include LAS Secretary General Amr Mahmoud Moussa, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim bin Jabir al-Thani and the foreign ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, the league said in statement following the meeting.
The emergency meeting, requested by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, was held to discuss the situation in Lebanon, where pro-government forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with opposition Shi’ite Hezbollah militants since Wednesday. The sectarian violence has further compounded the political instability in the Middle Eastern country.
“The (LAS) council appeals for an immediate halt to the fighting and the withdrawal of gunmen,” the pan-Arab bloc said in its statement.
It also called for a settlement of the Lebanese crisis on the basis of a three-point Arab initiative, which provides for the immediate election of Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as Lebanon’s president, the formation of a national unity government with no group enjoying veto power and the endorsement of a new election law.
Calling on gunmen to withdraw from the streets of the capital to help the Lebanese army maintain stability in the country, the statement warned that a deterioration of the situation would impact not only Lebanon but the entire Middle East.
At a press conference following the meeting at the LAS headquarters in Cairo, Moussa said the Arab delegation is expected to head for Lebanon soon, but did not give a specific date.
“We might succeed and we might not, but we have to try,” he added.
Moussa said Arab world is keen on helping Lebanon emerge from the current crisis, which has left dozens of people dead.
Deadly clashes erupted a day after the cabinet’s decision on Tuesday to declare Hezbollah’s private communication network illegal and remove airport security chief Gen. Wafik Shqaier for alleged links with the militant group.
On Saturday afternoon, Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led opposition withdrew its armed presence from the capital Beirut after the army froze the cabinet’s decisions.
However, heavy clashes between pro- and anti-government forces broke out again Sunday in the mountainous areas of central Lebanon, local TV reported.
Lebanon is currently facing its most serious political deadlock since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. For the first time in its history, the presidential seat has been vacant for months since Nov. 24, 2007, when Emile Lahoud ended his presidential term.