Syria Invites Lebanese Muslims for Talks in Attempt to Heal Split
Syria has invited Lebanese Muslim and Druze leaders for talks in Damascus to try to heal a split caused by a bloody inter-Muslim street battle in West Beirut last week, Lebanon’s caretaker premier, Rashid Karami, said Sunday.
Shia and Sunni Muslim religious and political leaders, plus those of the Druze, a Muslim offshoot, have been invited to the Tuesday meeting, Karami said.
“Fighting between brothers is unacceptable,” he said. “We call for a correction of the sad situation which exacts a high price from national unity.”
Karami said after returning from talks in Damascus on Friday that Syria, the dominant foreign power in Lebanon, promised measures “to correct the situation.”
Karami formally resigned as premier after Tuesday’s 15-hour battle in the mainly Muslim sector of the capital. He then agreed to head a caretaker government.
Sunni leaders issued a statement Saturday saying they were eager “to rise above wounds” inflicted when Druze and Shia militias badly battered Sunni fighters in the West Beirut violence.
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