By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 26, 7:47 PM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Saudi Arabia’s king on Monday invited Lebanon’s president to an Arab summit next month amid signs in this fractured country that his Western-backed political opponent, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, might not be asked to attend.

The invitation was delivered by Saudi State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Abdullah Zeinel during a meeting with President Emile Lahoud, a statement released by the president’s office said.

But it was not immediately clear whether Saudi Arabia, the summit’s host, would deliver a similar invitation to Saniora, who is locked in a fierce power struggle with opposition parties led by the militant Hezbollah group, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Saniora’s schedule Tuesday did not include any meeting with the Saudi minister. Zeinel said he leaves Beirut on Tuesday and has no plans to meet any other Lebanese officials.

The political crisis in Lebanon began after Saniora rejected Hezbollah’s demand for a national unity government that would give the guerrilla group and its allies veto power in the Cabinet. In response, six pro-Hezbollah ministers resigned from the Cabinet and the group has staged demonstrations in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1 to pressure the prime minister into stepping down.

Saniora, emboldened by Western and Arab support, has repeatedly refused to resign.

The pro-Syrian Lahoud and Saniora led two separate delegations to last year’s Arab summit in Sudan. They also engaged in a spat over the summit’s final communique regarding Arab support for Lebanon’s resistance, referring to Hezbollah.