Middle East: Lebanon to boycott Arab summit

Lebanon has said it will not be sending a delegation to this month's Arab summit in Syria amid the continuing political deadlock in Beirut.

Ghazi Aridi, Lebanon's information minister said: "The Council of Ministers has decided against Lebanon's participation in the Arab summit scheduled for March 29 in Damascus." Many members of Lebanon's ruling coalition blame Damascus for working with the Hezbollah-led opposition to block the election of a new president.

"By not taking part in the summit, Lebanon wanted to reaffirm that it should be represented by its head of state at such a meeting and that the Lebanese were unwilling to accept the status quo".