March 28th, 2008 by Kent

Mohamad Abdel Salam hopes that the Arab League summit does not try to solve more problems than its capable of resolving in his Daily Star op-ed. He believes that Syria has “dumped” all of its problems on this summit and that the Arab League cannot appropriately resolve all of these issues. “Thus the hope is that the Damascus summit becomes just another summit and not an end to all summits.”

At the summit, Syria presses Saudi Arabia to do more to help resolve the presidential crisis in Lebanon. Syrian officials have lamented that their efforts without the support of other allies will not end the stalemate.  Saudi Arabia has disapproved of Syria’s policy towards Lebanon, as Sarah Moller explains in her Middle East Times op-ed. The kingdom’s disapproval was one of the leading reasons for its boycott of the summit.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch urges leaders to pressure Syria to release political dissidents from prison.

Posted in Human Rights, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria |