Turkey, Qatar, Syria leaders to meet on Lebanon

The leaders of Turkey, Qatar and Syria will meet in Damascus Monday to discuss the political turmoil in Lebanon, a senior Turkish diplomat told AFP on Sunday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Damascus for the meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said by telephone.

Unal said that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made the announcement to reporters who accompanied him on a visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

In a sweep led by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, 11 ministers withdrew from Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's unity government Wednesday, forcing its collapse and plunging the country back into crisis.

The move was linked to a long-running dispute over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is reportedly set to indict high-ranking Hezbollah operatives in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Saad's father.

Murder charges for the assassination are expected Monday.

Hariri held talks with Erdogan in Ankara Friday.

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