Arab League ministers to meet on Lebanese crisis

By Aziz El-Kaissouni

CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss a crisis in Lebanon, the Arab League said on Saturday, after the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah seized control of Beirut.

At least 27 people have been killed in four days of violence triggered by the pro-Western Lebanese government decision to target the military communications network of the anti-Israeli Shi'ite guerrilla group as being illegal.

"The Arab League council at the ministerial level will hold an emergency session on Sunday to discuss the Lebanese crisis and how to deal with it," the League said in a statement.

The meeting came after Saudi Arabia an Egypt -- both supporters of the pro-Western Lebanese government -- called for an emergency session to discuss the crisis, the worst in Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war.

Syria's Arab League envoy Youssef Ahmed said that the Syrian foreign minister might not attend the meeting, Egypt's MENA news agency reported.

"Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem might not head his country's delegation at tomorrow's emergency meeting of the Arab foreign minister's council ... due to work in Damascus," MENA quoted Ahmed as saying, adding he would head the Syrian team.

Syria, which was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon under international pressure after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, would not favour a meeting that is likely to condemn the actions of its main ally in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, its prestige enhanced in the region after it stood its ground against Israel's 2006 onslaught, called the government's decision to take legal action against Hezbollah's military communications a declaration of war.