Lebanese President Michel Suleiman hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz in a tripartite summit and held with them talks aiming to enhance stability in Lebanon. Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Saad Hariri also joined the tripartite summit.

Suleiman, Berri and Hariri received the Saudi monarch and Syrian president at Beirut International Airport, where both leaders stepped off the same plane coming from Damascus before traveling to Baabda Palace with Suleiman.

Assad was accompanied by Foreign Minister Walid Moallem as well as presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban, while King Abdullah was accompanied by Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

King Abdullah and Assad's historic visit to Lebanon aimed to help ease tension in Lebanon and the region. The two leaders called on Lebanese parties to continue to comply with the resolutions of the Doha accord, which ended bloody clashes in May 2008 between supporters of the rival March 14 and March 8 camps.

Both Assad and Abdullah stressed the importance of stability and urged all of the Lebanese parties to avoid resorting to violence in the face of mounting political tension in the country. They also voiced the importance of "resorting to legal institutions and Lebanon's unity government to resolve any differences."

"Lebanese parties should pursue the path of appeasement and dialogue and to boost national unity in the face of outside threats," referring to Israel, said a statement issued after talks in the Baabda presidential palace.

The Saudi and Syrian leaders said they stood in solidarity with Lebanon "in the face of Israel's daily violations of its sovereignty and its attempts to destabilize the country."

President Assad, who was visiting Lebanon for the first time since 2005, described the discussions as excellent.

King Abdullah paid a brief visit to PM Saad Hariri's home in downtown Beirut, where he met with religious leaders and other officials. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem also held a side-meeting Nabatieh MP Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc.

The tripartite summit was followed by a luncheon at Baabda Palace, attended by Lebanese state officials, ministers and lawmakers of the different parliamentary blocs. El Marada Leader MP Sleiman Frangieh was one of the key guests in the luncheon.

Suleiman presented both leaders with the Order of the Cedars, while Assad awarded his Lebanese counterpart the Syrian Order of Merit. Some three hours after the arrival of Assad and Abdullah, Lebanon's top three leaders accompanied their guests to the airport for their departure.

31/7/2010