Syrian President Bashar Assad will not receive an invitation for a meeting of European and Middle Eastern leaders hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice next week in New York. The meeting coincides with the special session of the UN General Assembly, which attracts scores of world leaders. President George W. Bush plans to speak to the assembly next Wednesday and Rice will spend a week or more in New York, taking advantage of the leaders' presence to conduct some diplomacy.One of the top items on her list is stepping up pressure on Syria to steer clear of Lebanon in its drive for political independence and to crack down on Palestinian militants with headquarters in Damascus. Rice will try to rally support when she hosts a meeting of European and Middle Eastern leaders. But the target of her campaign will not be there. Facing international pressure over the investigation into Lebanon's former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, Assad has decided not to attend the General Assembly session. No official reason was given by Damascus for the president's pull-out, which contradicted last month's statement by Syria's UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad who said that Assad would attend.