{"id":28270,"date":"2019-01-08T05:24:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T05:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28270"},"modified":"2019-01-08T05:24:31","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T05:24:31","slug":"indian-opposition-party-leader-rahul-gandhi-to-visit-uae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28270","title":{"rendered":"Indian opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi to visit UAE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: Lebanon on Monday resisted mounting pressure from Hezbollah to invite a delegation from Syria to an Arab economic summit next week in Beirut.<\/p>\n

\nSyrian leader Bashar Assad is also unlikely to be invited to the next Arab League summit in Tunisia in March, after a planned meeting to discuss Syria\u2019s readmission to the body was canceled.<\/p>\n

\nThe Arab League suspended Syria\u2019s membership in November 2011 and imposed political and economic sanctions over the Syrian civil war. Three months later, the Gulf Cooperation Council states withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHowever, as the Assad regime solidifies its military victory after seven years of war, with help from Russia and Iran, there is growing pressure to normalize relations.<\/p>\n

\nIn Lebanon, the campaign is being led by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. The group\u2019s parliamentary bloc said it was \u201cin Lebanon\u2019s interest to invite Syria to participate in the Arab Economic
and Social Development Summit,\u201d which begins in Beirut on Jan. 16.<\/p>\n

\nInviting Syria \u201cwould strengthen Lebanon and would be in its strategic interest, especially as current developments are creating a positive Arab atmosphere that is seeing Arab states rushing back to Damascus, and as Syria\u2019s closest neighbor and considering the country\u2019s interests, Lebanon should be at the forefront of efforts to reinforce and strengthen this atmosphere,\u201d Hezbollah said.<\/p>\n

\nIf Syria were not invited the summit should be postponed, the group said, but Lebanon rejected both suggestions.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cLebanon is hosting and organizing the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit but is not the one inviting states. Invitations remain the competence of the Arab League,\u201d Rafiq Chlala, head of the summit\u2019s media committee, told Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSyria had not attended the previous Arab summits upon the Arab League\u2019s decision, but it can return to participating by a decision from the Arab League,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cLebanon has nothing to do with this issue, and President Aoun has pledged not to postpone the economic summit and to hold it on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nPresident Michel Aoun confirmed that the summit \u201cwill be held on time,\u201d and said Lebanon\u2019s failure for the past eight months to form a Cabinet of ministers under Prime Minister Saad Hariri was no reason to postpone it.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe current government is exercising its powers according to the constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nEgypt\u2019s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, have already confirmed their attendance. Other Arab leaders are expected to do so in the next few days.<\/p>\n

\nDelegates will meet initially on Jan. 16 to agree on the topics for discussion and draft a communique. Foreign ministers will meet on Jan. 18, followed by delegation chiefs and national leaders on Jan. 19, before the full summit on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: Lebanon on Monday resisted mounting pressure from Hezbollah to invite a delegation from Syria to an Arab economic summit next week in Beirut. Syrian leader Bashar Assad is also unlikely to be invited to the next Arab League summit in Tunisia in March, after a planned meeting to discuss Syria\u2019s readmission to the body…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}