Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa urged the Lebanese on Monday to take part in the Arab Summit this weekend in Damascus which is set to be dominated by Lebanon’s political crisis.

"I hope that Lebanon will not be absent from the summit," Moussa told journalists on arrival in the Syrian capital, shortly after a parliamentary session to elect a Lebanese president was postponed for the seventeenth time.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is not expected to attend the summit himself, but it is not clear whether a delegation will be appointed.

The summit, scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, has been mired in controversy. Some Arab states have vowed not to attend if the Lebanese parliament has not elected a president by then.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have blamed Syria - which was the dominant political and military force in Lebanon for decades - for obstructing the election.

A Saudi official said Monday that Riyadh's decision to send a low-ranking diplomat to the summit reflected its rift with Syria over the crisis in Lebanon.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since November 24, when Emile Lahoud stood down, and presidential powers have been transferred to the cabinet, which will decide whether Lebanon attends the summit in Damascus although the opposition  movement in Lebanon deems the government unconstitutional and illegitimate.

Earlier Monday, the speaker's office announced that a parliamentary session to elect a new president had been postponed from Tuesday until April 22 amid continued deadlock between rival political leaders.

The decision marks the 17th time since September that a parliament session to elect a successor to Lahoud has failed amid a standoff between the government and the opposition.

-AFP/NOW Staff