AMMAN -- Syria took international center stage Thursday as the isolated country stepped into the spotlight to host a major four-way summit that implicitly recognized the political weight of President Bashar Assad as a pivotal player in negotiations to establish peace and stability in the turbulent Middle East.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Damascus Wednesday on a long-awaited visit as Paris tries to fill the diplomatic vacuum created by Washingtons policy of exclusion.

AMMAN – French President Nicolas Sarkozys upcoming two-day visit to Syria -- the first Western head of state to go there in five years -- is expected to help redefine the shifting pivotal role that Damascus has in the region, as the "rogue" state seeks to come out of isolation and into the international fold.

AMMAN -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed he will make a landmark visit to Syria on Sept. 3-4 in another step toward normalizing their ties and bringing Damascus back into the international fold by reversing a policy of exclusion that has in recent years alienated the country from the West.

DAMASACUS -- Lebanon and Syria have for the first time in history agreed to establish diplomatic relations and to begin demarking their border. This was announced during the Lebanese presidents visit to Damascus, the first in three years, and is expected to alleviate the threat of civil war in Lebanon and to lift the international isolation of Syria.

While Lebanese President Gen. Michel Suleiman was visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad, a terror attack hit Tripoli, Lebanons second-largest city, killing 18 people, including nine soldiers and injuring over 40. It is still unclear who was behind this bloody attack, but fingers are pointing at Fatah al-Islam, the al-Qaida linked group that fought the Lebanese army in 2007 in the Palestinian camp of Nahr al-Bared. In fact Fatah al-Islams leader, Shaker al-Absi, recently said he would target the military. But more than anything, it is the growing presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon that is worrying.

AMMAN -- As Lebanese President Michel Suleiman was preparing to start a landmark visit to Damascus on Wednesday, a massive bomb blast killed at least 14 people, mostly soldiers, in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, which has in recent weeks been torn by sectarian clashes.

AMMAN -- Two weeks after the formation of a unity government in Lebanon and 13 heated meetings later, the new Lebanese cabinet on Friday evening is due to release a policy statement after reaching a compromise on Hezbollah weapons.

AMMAN -- The stark difference between a scene of jubilation in Lebanon and grief in Israel as prisoners and remains were exchanged with Hezbollah on Wednesday underlined what both sides generally view as a triumph for the Lebanese guerrilla group and a defeat for Israel in their ongoing conflict.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Syrian President Bashar Assad is drawing his country back into the Western-led international fold, thanks to the French leadership, raising mixed expectations on how the Syrian rapprochement with the West will affect its "rejectionist" role and alliances with Iran and anti-Israeli movements.