Kuwait ready to attend any Arab summit, even with Iraq

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah has told Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss of his country's political and financial backing for Lebanon in confrontation of the repeated Israeli aggressions against the Lebanese people and installations.

This came while news reports from Cairo said the Arab League has been making consultations to transfer the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers to be held next month from Cairo to Beirut.

Meanwhile in a statement the US administration on Tuesday criticized the joint statement released by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and President Lahoud last Saturday in calling for backing the Lebanese resistance against the Israeli aggression.

The statement of the US department said, "It is not wise to back the enemies of peace. Hizbullah tries in theory and practice to kill the peace process. We think they should not be backed."

Sheikh Sabah announced following his talks with the Lebanese officials that Kuwait is seeking to dedicate one day to discussing means of backing Lebanon on the sideline of the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers due to be held in Cairo on March 12.

He asserted what he had previously announced in Egypt, the readiness of Kuwait to attend any Arab summit to backing Lebanon, even if such a summit is attended by Iraq.