The Iranian Foreign Ministry invited Leb, Iraq, and Syria to join the conference on March 18. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Leb's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who received the invitation from his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, decided not to participate after discussions with President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
and Prime Minister
Najib Miqati.Leb's position came in light of its decision to disassociate itself from the crisis in Syria and the developments in the region.
Despite the report that Leb won't participate in the conference, ministerial sources told the daily Beirut's participation will be at the level of deputy foreign minister.
According to the sources, the conference will be like the latest conference held in Tunis for "Friends of Syria," but the difference is that Tehran's conference is to support the Syrian regime against the opposition.
The sources said that Leb aims at maintaining the country's stability thus it avoids any stance on the crisis in Syria so that it wouldn't have any repercussions on the local situation.