Arab diplomats announced Thursday that speculation the summit would be delayed or its venue changed because of Syria's perceived role in Lebanon's political crisis have been put to rest after Riyadh confirmed its participation and Damascus announced it would invite Lebanon.

Foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League held marathon talks in Cairo on Wednesday to make a breakthrough in their preparations for the troubled summit.

Diplomats said many hours were dedicated to the Lebanese crisis and its repercussions on inter-Arab relations, and side-meetings were held between the Saudi and Syrian ministers, whose relations have been chilly since the assassination of Saudi-backed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.

The hours spent in diplomacy apparently defused some of the tensions that had recently escalated amid indications that Riyadh, as well as Egypt and Jordan, would boycott the March 29-30 summit if Lebanon did not elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as president before that date.

Lebanon's presidential seat has been vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down in November when his term expired. Since then the pro- and anti-Western political leaders have wrangled over the makeup of a new cabinet. The Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, wants veto power in the next government, which the anti-Syrian ruling coalition, backed by Saudi Arabia, categorically rejects.

Saudi Arabia has accused Syria of egging on its allies in the Lebanese opposition to obstruct an Arab initiative that calls for a national unity government without giving anyone veto power.

Arab diplomats confirmed that Syria was inviting Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to the summit, although it remains to be seen how Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem would hand over the invitation and whether he would be welcomed to set foot in Riyadh.

They said that the participation by the monarch of the Arab world's wealthiest and most influential nation also remains to be seen, as his acceptance has been linked to events in Beirut in the coming weeks.

The diplomats further confirmed that Lebanon would be invited, with or without a president, as Muallem had indicated late Wednesday when he said that "Lebanon will be present at the summit."

Syria had previously said it would invite Lebanon after a president was elected. There is no reason, however, to expect the election of a president in time, because parliament has already postponed voting 15 times since September. The next scheduled date, March 11, is expected to be postponed yet again.

But Muallem on Wednesday tossed the ball into the Lebanese court, saying that if a Lebanese president was not elected before the summit, "then Lebanon will choose who will represent it."

Lebanon's acting Foreign Minister Tarek Metri told reporters Thursday the government had not yet received an invitation, but that he had been told one was on the way. Metri added that if there was no election, the government will decide who will represent Lebanon.

And that is where another problem lies, analysts say.

Some Lebanese media reports quoted Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa as saying that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora would represent the deeply-divided country if no president was elected.

But analysts in Beirut told the Middle East Times that the anti-Syrian Siniora was not likely to accept the task of leading Lebanon's representation, because of friction it could generate both at home and in Damascus.

They said the country's divided Maronite Christian community, including his allies, would look at Siniora, a Muslim Sunni, as undermining a role that the country's confessional system reserves for them. According to the country's sectarian charter, the president is a Maronite, the prime minister a Sunni and the parliament speaker a Shiite.

Commentators said that Damascus was equally uncomfortable with Siniora going to Syria, where the government holds him responsible for leading a Lebanese campaign against Bashar Assad's regime after Hariri's assassination three years ago.

Christian rival leaders have called on the Lebanese government to boycott the summit in Damascus, but for different reasons.

Samir Geagea, head of the staunch anti-Syrian Lebanese Forces, has called on all the Arabs to boycott the summit because it is being held in Damascus, which he said is "launching an undeclared war" on his country.

Michel Aoun, a former army general and a former anti-Syrian who is now allied with the opposition, said Lebanon should not attend the summit if it has no elected president and if the country is to be represented by an "illegitimate government."

Meanwhile, diplomats said the Arab foreign ministers have agreed – for the first time in three years – to work toward Lebanese-Syrian rapprochement to help resolve the crisis and end the tension between the Arab backers of the Lebanese antagonists.