Postponing the election of a new president in Lebanon for the 17th time is poised to wreak havoc with the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus.

There was hope that Lebanon would settle this issue before convening the summit, but all Arab and foreign efforts to have the Lebanese parliament convene to elect a president have come to naught.

The fallout from this Lebanese deadlock is sure to undermine the summit and lower the level of Arab representation at the meeting.

Many Arab capitals were pinning hopes on Damascus to save the summit from turning into a meaningless Arab gathering at a time when regional and Arab issues require Arab cooperation and solidarity for their resolution.

To be sure, Syria could have played its cards differently by using its influence in Lebanon; it could have brokered a deal for the election of a new Lebanese president in time for holding the Arab summit.

Damascus chose not to do so for reasons of its own. The result is that an Arab summit will be held with fewer than expected Arab heads of state attending.

Syrian President Bashar Assad can still salvage the situation and come up with a spectacular feat by announcing an end to the stalemate in Lebanon at the start of the summit.

The speaker of Lebanese parliament, Nabih Berri, can still surprise the Arab world by convening an emergency parliament session to elect a president after receiving a nod of approval from Damascus. If none of this is done, the Damascus summit may go down in Arab history as another exercise in futility as an irrelevant gathering.

This will not bode well for Syria which is vying for a bigger role in Arab and regional affairs.

There is also fear that a failed Arab summit would have deep repercussions on regional and Arab issues.

With the Palestinian, Iraqi and Lebanese problems yet to be settled in a fair and just manner, the Arab world cannot afford to miss yet another opportunity to unite for the resolution of these and other major conflicts in the area.