EMBOLDENED by its alliance with Iran, Syria has put its interests in Lebanon above the prestige of hosting an Arab summit that will open on Saturday absent. President Bashar Al-Assad has dismissed demands to push Syria's Lebanese allies to abandon their quest for a larger share of power in Beirut, prompting the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to stay away from the summit. Saudi Arabia and the United States accuse Syria of prolonging the crisis between the Western-backed Beirut government and pro-Syrian opposition that has kept Lebanon without a president since November. Saudi Arabia opted to send only a junior official to the summit. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal urged tough action against Syria during a tour of the United States and Europe in February. Egypt will be represented by a junior minister at the March 29-30 meeting. Lebanon will boycott the summit altogether. Syria supports demands by the Hezbollah-led opposition for veto power in the cabinet. One Syrian source said Damascus was being asked to sell out Hezbollah by accepting formation of a Lebanese government free to “do Israel's bidding”. “The list of demands on Syria will not stop at solving the political crisis. There will be the issue of Hezbollah's weapons and Iran's influence in Lebanon,” he said. To Riyadh's dismay, Syria has been reinforcing its alliance with Iran, which also supports Hezbollah, as Iran's regional influence rose after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. An Arab politician in touch with Syrian officials said coordination between Syria and Iran remained close despite the assassination of a Hezbollah commander in Damascus in February. The politician, who asked not to be identified, said Syria believed the Lebanon crisis could drag on until November's U.S. presidential election or beyond, carrying with it the risk of a new Israeli-Hezbollah war, which could this time involve Syria. Lebanon has been a battleground for Syria in its struggle with Israel for decades. Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005 under international pressure following the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. A deal between France and Syria for a solution in Lebanon collapsed in mutual acrimony at the end of last year. Syria's isolation, which had been eroding, has deepened again. Washington has expanded sanctions on Syria this year and deployed warships off Lebanon, partly to show impatience with Damascus. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana this month called for greater pressure on Syria. He said it was using proxies in Lebanon to prevent the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, while the parliamentary majority was shrinking as lawmakers were assassinated. Syrian officials deny playing a blocking role. They said Syria supported Suleiman as consensus candidate and worked through Hezbollah to convince opposition leader Michel Aoun -- no ally of Syria -- to forgo his own candidacy. Syrian political commentator Ibrahim Al-Daraji said even if Syria accepted Saudi and U.S. demands, it could not force Hezbollah to accept political solutions it did not want. A diplomat in Damascus said Syria's focus on its perceived interests in Lebanon could cost it dear. “The Syrians are paying a huge price for a single-minded policy,” the diplomat said. “They have lost goodwill in the West, went out of their way to pick a fight with Saudi Arabia and locked themselves into a strategic framework with Iran.” __
