Beirut – Lebanon’s anti-Syrian ruling "March 14 Forces coalition" started Friday its first official convention with the aim of declaring a comprehensive political platform for the country. The convention also marks the third anniversary of a massive demonstration often credited with stoking the international pressure that brought an end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon following the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri in 2005.

The grouping’s secretary, former MP Fares Soueid, said the coalition would extend its hand to all other parties in Lebanon in a bid to overcome differences and unify national ranks. Speaking on behalf of the ruling coalition’s different parties, Soueid announced the March 14 Forces’ first "political declaration." "Together for the salvation of Lebanon, together for defending our right to live, together for living peacefully in a sovereign, democratic, and modern state," read the declaration’s opening lines.  The declaration focused on four major points; national unity as a precondition to true independence, protecting state sovereignty through restructuring state institutions and restricting the possession of arms to the state exclusively, protecting independence through redefining the concept of resistance in a way that conforms with national criteria, and safeguarding independence by restructuring Lebanon’s role and relations in the Arab world.  Soueid stressed that national unity could only be achieved by creating a civil state that develops the idea of true citizenship at the expense of clientalism and sectarianism.  Soueid said Lebanon’s sovereignty could not be protected without restricting the possession of arms to the state.  Damascus must stop treating Lebanon as if it is a district of Syria," Fares Suaid, a key coalition figure, told around 2,500 people at a conference in Beirut to mark the anniversary.

According to organizers, the convention entitled "Spring of 2008" will try to define the coalition’s political objectives, a feature that has been largely absent from Lebanese politics – both before and after the Syrian withdrawal. The March 14 coalition came into existence in the wake of the assassination of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast at a seafront area of Beirut along with 20 other people on February 14, 2005.

by Khalil Fleyhan, BEIRUT (AFP) – Syria on Thursday officially invited Lebanon to the Arab summit, a move seen as a bid to ease tensions with Arab countries who had hinted they might boycott the meeting should Beirut be excluded. The Syrian invitation was addressed to Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, but there were doubts on whether he would accept.