Saudi Arabia urges Lebanese people to give top priority to nation's interests

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon says situation dangerous, Arabia deals with all parties on equal footing

Saudi Shoura members accuse Hezbollah of triggering civil war in Lebanon

Egyptian Shoura Council, People’s Assembly condemn serious Lebanon developments

Western warships cross to Mediterranean

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the talks, contacts and consultations he held with a number of leaders of countries and their envoys on bilateral relations, regional issues and international affairs including his meeting with Envoy of the Quartet Committee for Middle East Tony Blair.

The meeting tackled developments of the Palestinian issue and international efforts to achieve a just peace in the region

. Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet for Shoura Council Affairs and Acting Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Saud bin Saeed Al-Mathami said the Cabinet reiterated the kingdom's call to the brothers in Lebanon of all political parties to be wise and reasonable and give ultimate priority to the interest of Lebanon

. The Cabinet stressed that the regrettable escalation taking place in Lebanon will not achieve victory for any Lebanese party except for the external extremist forces which have been hampering any sincere and honorable efforts to end the political crisis in Lebanon and achieve agreement among its people and all parties to elect a president and to achieve prosperity and stability for Lebanon and its people.

The Cabinet reviewed the results of the extraordinary meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Arab League, expressing support for the meeting's urgent appeal to the Lebanese parties to immediately cease fire, to stop all armed violence acts, to withdraw armed men from tension areas and to facilitate the task of the Lebanese army to save lives.

The Cabinet expressed satisfaction over the Arab League Ministerial Council's reiteration of the Arab Initiative with all its elements as a basis for any solution and its full rejection of the results of the developments of the recent days in Lebanon especially the use of weapons and violence which threatens the public peace in this country.

The Cabinet wished success for the ministerial committee which was formed for immediate travel to Beirut.

On the situation in the Sudan, the Acting Minister of Culture and Information said that the Cabinet stressed, on the one hand, its condemnation of all forms of violence and, on the other, its support for all efforts carried out by the national unity government to achieve peace, security and stability in all parts of Sudan

. On another subject, the Cabinet expressed hope for stopping all forms of violence in Saadah, Yemen, resulting from the disorder and rebellion by Alhoothi's followers who have violated their agreements with the government and rejected efforts to save lives and establish peace.

The Cabinet called for containing the disagreement and tackling its results through the Yemeni government's continuing efforts to end the disorder peacefully. The Cabinet expressed appreciation for President Ali Abdullah Salih's attempt to contain the disagreement.

On the tense borders between Djibouti and Eritrea, the Cabinet affirmed the need for respecting the principles of good neighborliness between the two neighboring countries, asserting non-infringement on the two countries' borders existing after the independence and respecting the territorial integrity of countries.

The Cabinet emphasized the importance of the two countries' resorting to peaceful means to solve the problem.

Dr. Saud Al-Muthami noted that the Cabinet reviewed a number of topics on its agenda and issued the following decisions:

The Cabinet approved the amendment of item (VII) of the Cabinet Decision No. (220) dated 22/08/1426H. After the amendment, the item shall call for the formation of a committee headed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry and has the membership of two representatives from each of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance as well as the Secretary General of Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants and Secretary General of Saudi Council of Engineers

. The Committee shall exercise a number of tasks including:

1- Considering all existing real estate sharing (licensed and unlicensed) as of the issuance date of the Cabinet Decision No. (220) dated 22/08/1426H.

2- Authorizing any office of Certified Accountants to prepare a financial position for each sharing and prepare detailed reports on shareholders' records, their financial rights and the legal and technical aspects of the sharing in addition to submitting periodical reports on such sharing.

3- Any sharing shall be assigned to a liquidator -if the committee found a reason for that. If it is proven that some people are defrauding, irresponsive or abusing funds of the sharing, the Committee may refer them to the competent judicial authorities.

4- Preparing a mechanism for the work of the referred Committee to enable it to preserve the rights of shareholders and liquidate these contributions.

The Cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Saudi Red Crescent Society and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on strategic partnership signed in Geneva on 18/04/2007

. The Cabinet approved the decisions of 23rd Conference of Universal Postal Union held in Bucharest in 2004 including amendments to the following documents

: - 7The Additional Protocol of Constitution of Universal Postal Union

- General system of Universal Postal Union

- Universal Postal Convention and final Protocol.

The Cabinet approved license of founding a public shareholding company named Arab AIC Company for Cooperative Insurance.

The Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding for Scientific and Technical Cooperation between King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Poland Academy of Sciences signed in Warsaw on 25 / 6 / 2007.

The Memorandum provides for the following:

- The two parties cooperate on the development of scientific and technical research in selected fields of common interest.

- The two parties exchange scientists and specialists in joint research, execution of training programs and consultations and organization of conferences and scientific and technical courses

. The Cabinet approved the final account of General Organization of Railways for the fiscal year 1426-1427

. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud reviewed with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan in phone calls the current situations at the international and Arab arena and the current developments in the Middle East especially the developments of events at the Lebanese arena.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received also a phone call from Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

During the call, they reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries as well as the international and Arab situations and the current developments in the Middle East.

Around 200 people fleeing the violence in Lebanon, including the Saudi ambassador in Beirut, have arrived in the nearby island of Cyprus, officials said.

They said among those arriving at the marina was the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Abdulaziz Al Khoja and his family who were escorted directly to the nearby Larnaca international airport.

On 20 February 2008, Saudi Arabia transferred $20 million to the account of the High Relief Committee for 2007-08 tuition in public schools. The assistance benefited a total of 326,503 students in 1,386 public schools. This is the second consecutive year that Saudi Arabia provided this specific type of support. The first public school tuition support was prompted by the emergency needs after the July 2006 war

. The Shoura Council held in Riyadh its 17th ordinary session presided over by the council's chairman Dr. Salih bin Abdullah bin Homaid.

During the session, Dr. Salih expressed deep concern and sorrow over the escalation witnessed at the Lebanese arena nowadays.

In a statement issued by the council and read by Dr. bin Homaid, the council called on the Lebanese brothers with all their political trends to listen to the voice of wisdom and language of reason and to put Lebanon's interest above any consideration.

The council calls on those standing behind the escalation to reconsider their calculations and to realize that the involvement of Lebanon in a blind strife will not achieve victory for any party.

Also, it hopes continuation of works for restoration of Lebanon's security, safety and unity.

It emphasized the importance of returning to the Arab League initiative in this regard.

The Council commended the Kingdom's invitation to hold a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers Council to discuss the deteriorating situation at the Lebanese arena and it hopes that the meeting will be succeeded in uniting the word under the umbrella of the Arab League.

It affirmed that the council supports the efforts exerted by the Kingdom under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to contain the critical situation in Lebanon.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy underlined French support for Lebanon's embattled “legitimate government” in a telephone call to its prime minister, Fouad Siniora.

In a statement, the presidential residence added that Sarkozy also rang Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to discuss the crisis in Lebanon after five days of fighting.

“Sarkozy firmly condemns all armed action carried out in these recent days and calls for an unconditional halt to violence,” said the statement, which also condemned all foreign interference in Lebanon.

He also noted “the support of France for Lebanon, the legitimate government of that country and its institutions responsible for security, who must be able to carry out their mission.”

Sarkozy also called for an “immediate resumption of dialogue" under the auspices of the Arab League aimed at an outcome based on "respect for the democracy, independence, sovereignty and unity of Lebanon.”

Kouchner said that France "did not intend to remain inactive" in the crisis, and said he had spoken with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority said.

“The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,” the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination.

The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability” amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had defended the earlier deployment saying it was designed to show Washington's readiness to defend the interests of its allies in the region. In March the USS Cole had left the region for the Gulf.