Lebanon proposes Arab summit concerning Iraq, Moussa finds hope to avoid war

In its capacity as the chair of the rotating Arab summit, Lebanon has proposed to convene an Arab ministerial meeting in mid February in order to discuss the Iraqi crisis.

In a press conference held yesterday in Beirut, the Lebanese foreign minister Mahmoud Hammoud said that he had conveyed this proposal to the secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa and to other ten Arab states.

Hammoud added he will continue his contacts in order to convene this meeting which aims at discussing the situation in the region in light of the accelerated threats concerning Iraq, according to the Beirut Arab summit resolutions which warned against any aggression against any Arab state.

Meantime, in Cairo, the secretary general of the Arab league AL Amr Moussa considered yesterday that there is still hope to avoid war. He said in statements that the Arab diplomatic efforts are continuous in order to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Mousa said that "the Arab voice has reached the UN Security Council and the major powers in order to avert the ghost of war, and Arab and international efforts resulted in alienating this war for several months and we hope this war will be alienated indefinitely."

However, the AL chief will visit Damascus today ( Friday) for three days in order to take part in the Syrian Education and Women Forum to be held under patronage of Syria's First Lady President Asmaa al-Assad on February 2 and 3.

A source at the Arab League said that Moussa will be meeting with President Bashar al-Assad and the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara in order to hold talks concerning the situation in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.