DAMASCUS, Syria — Saudi Arabia said Saturday that Syria should be punished for blocking a resolution to Lebanon’s political crisis, escalating a dispute between U.S. allies and Damascus that has marred an Arab summit.
The rift raises fears that tensions between Lebanon’s U.S.- and Saudi- backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition will increase after the summit ends today.
For more than a year, Lebanon has been the scene of a proxy struggle between the United States and its Arab allies, who back Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government, and Syria, an ally of Iran and the Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan embarrassed Syrian President Bashar Assad by boycotting the Damascus summit, which began Saturday. In a diplomatic snub, they sent low-level officials instead to the gathering.
Lebanon boycotted the summit completely, accusing Damascus of preventing the election of a new Lebanese president in order to destabilize the country and reassert its control over the neighbor.
On Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal sharply criticized Syria at a news conference in Riyadh, timed to coincide with the opening speeches of the summit in Damascus.
He blamed Syria for blocking an Arab League compromise aimed at resolving Lebanon’s presidential crisis.
“The problem is that what had been agreed by consensus in the Arab League, including by Syria, wasn’t implemented in reality,” he said. He called for the Arab League to punish states that breach a common resolution.
“Call it punishment or countermeasures,” he said. “There must be a deterrent action.”
Egypt echoed the criticism. “Our hope was that a long-awaited solution to the political crisis threatening Lebanon’s stability would precede this summit,” a message from President Hosni Mubarak to the gathering said. “Unfortunately, this did not occur.”
Lebanon is not the only dispute between Syria and the pro-U.S. camp. Sunni-led Arab governments are deeply worried over Syria’s close alliance with Shiite Muslim Iran, which they fear is increasing its influence in the Mideast.
