Damascus lines its borders with troops ahead of semi-boycotted Arab summit

DEBKA -- Yemen and Jordan sent junior representatives, following the lead of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Oman. Lebanon boycotted the meeting in protest against Syrian “meddling” which has deprived the country of a president since November. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki was too busy with his offensive against fellow Shiites in Basra. But Baghdad sent its Shiite Arab vice president Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Iran sent FM Manouchehr Mottaki after backing away from Syria’s original plan to invite its president.
Syrian president Bashar Assad has inexplicably responded to the partial boycott of the Arab League “summit” by lining up army units on his borders with Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, as well as pushing contingents across the border into Lebanon proper.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that a group of Syrian armored divisions has been posted along the Beirut-Damascus highway at Zabadani, under the command of the president’s younger brother, Maher Assad, commander of the presidential guard.
Last Monday, DEBKAfile’s military sources revealed that the bulk of Palestinian terrorist forces under Syrian and Iranian command had been shifted out of the Damascus area and sent into Lebanon too, taking up battle positions in the Beqaa Valley.
Another 10,000 Syrian troops have been positioned at Kurdish centers along the Iraqi border following last week’s riots in Qamishli on the Kurdish New Year, in which several Kurds were killed.