Arab League to send mediating mission to Lebanon

By Mohamed Abdellah and Alaa Shahine

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League said on Sunday it would send a high-profile mission to Beirut to help mediate an end to Lebanon's worst civil strife in 18 years, but analysts were skeptical the efforts could yield significant results.

The Cairo-based organization said Arab foreign ministers, meeting in an urgent session, had chosen Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani and Arab League chief Amr Moussa to head the delegation.

Fifty-three people have been killed in the fighting that erupted when Hezbollah, a group supported by Iran and Syria, briefly seized control of Beirut after the pro-Western government's decision to target its military communications network. At least 150 people have been wounded.

"We want to rescue Lebanon," Moussa told a news conference after the meeting. He said the ministers condemned the "use of violence to achieve political goals."

Earlier the Arab League had said in a statement that the mission would travel to Beirut immediately, but Moussa said a date would be set only after calls to Lebanese leaders.

Tensions eased in Beirut on Sunday after Hezbollah fighters pulled back from areas they had seized in the western half of the capital. But violence later spread to the mountains east of Beirut between Hezbollah fighters and supporters of the pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

Lebanon has been in a political deadlock for 18 months over opposition demands for a greater share of power. Moussa has tried for months to broker an end of the crisis without success.

Analysts said they doubted the Arab mission could help solve the conflict in a country they see as a battleground for a confrontation between the United States and its Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia on one hand, and Iran and Syria on the other.