Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad told today's opening session of the Arab League summit in Damascus that he would help end Lebanon's long political crisis, but the solution required the Lebanese themselves to compromise. ``We in Syria are prepared to cooperate in Arab and non-Arab efforts on the condition they are based on Lebanese national consensus,'' Assad said in a televised speech. The Lebanese parliament has been unable to choose a president to replace incumbent Emile Lahoud, who stepped down last November. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has blamed both Syria and Iran for blocking the election through their ally Hezbollah, Lebanon's largest Shiite Muslim party. Hezbollah is demanding a veto over cabinet decisions in return for its votes. Syria supports the demand as part of the ``consensus'' solution.
The Lebanese standoff has been marked by assassinations and street unrest that have raised fears of civil war. In a speech yesterday to explain why Lebanon had boycotted the meeting, Siniora said: ``Syria has played, during and before this period, a major role in deepening the political crisis in Lebanon.''
The crisis has exposed rifts in the 22-member Arab League. Only half of the group's heads of state attended the summit, the first of the annual meetings to be held in Damascus.