Syrian and Saudi leaders to tackle tension in Lebanon

By Yara Bayoumy

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Lebanon on Friday in a dramatic attempt to avert a crisis over possible indictments of Hezbollah members in the assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

Hariri’s 2005 killing set off a huge political tremor in Lebanon, where the repercussions are still playing out five years later. The joint Saudi-Syrian initiative represents a symbolic show of Arab concern to avoid an escalation.

The visit by Assad and Abdullah, who only reconciled last year after a rift caused by the killing, aims to ease tension between the Shi’ite Hezbollah group, backed by Syria and Iran, and supporters of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, a Saudi ally and son of the slain leader.

President Michel Suleiman and Hariri greeted Abdullah and Assad when they arrived on a Saudi aircraft from Damascus. Beirut’s airport road was lined with Syrian and Saudi flags. The leaders headed to Baabda presidential palace for talks.

Hariri told Al Arabiya television on Thursday that he believed the three-way summit between Abdullah, Assad and Suleiman would provide “considerable stability” to Lebanon.

Assad’s visit is his first to Beirut since the bombing that killed Hariri and sparked an outcry in Lebanon. Pressure from the United States, France and Saudi Arabia eventually forced Assad to end Syria’s 29-year military presence in its neighbor.

Assad and Abdullah are alarmed by the political ferment set off by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah this month when he said Hariri had told him a U.N.-backed tribunal would indict “rogue” Hezbollah members for his father’s killing.

“PROJECT OF STRIFE”

Nasrallah insists the government, which in principle supports the tribunal, should reject any such indictments — setting the scene for a paralyzing government crisis and revived Sunni-Shi’ite tensions, if not bloodshed as in 2008.

Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Kassem has said a change of government might become an issue if group members were indicted in “a project of strife, concocted by those who accuse us.”

The Hague-based tribunal says talk of indictments is speculation and the prosecutor will file them when he is ready.

Hariri, then leading a broad anti-Syrian coalition, at first accused Damascus of killing his father. Syria denies this.

Since he became prime minister last year, Hariri has dropped his anti-Syrian rhetoric and has visited Damascus several times to forge a rapprochement with Assad, who had already mended fences with the Saudis.

King Abdullah, who met Assad in Damascus on Thursday, was expected to urge the Syrian leader to use his influence with Nasrallah to reduce tension in Lebanon, which has enjoyed relative calm since a Qatari-mediated deal in 2008 ended a crisis that had culminated in Hezbollah briefly seizing Beirut.

After their talks in Damascus, the two rulers “affirmed that they care about backing concord in Lebanon and support all that contributes to its stability and unity,” a statement said.

King Abdullah was last in the Lebanese capital for a 2002 Arab summit, when he was still Crown Prince, and he is the first Saudi monarch to come to Lebanon for decades.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)