The three point Arab League plan calls for the immediate election of the president to be followed by the formation of a national unity government based on the constitution, to be followed by a new electoral law . A step by step approach for ending the crises .

The Syrian road map centers around blocking the second step ( Government formation) of the Arab plan in order to achieve its ultimate objective which is the blocking of the election of army General Michel Suleiman and replacing him with a candidate who will be similar to the former president Emile Lahoud .

This is the reason for the recent accusations by the Lebanese pro-Syrian media against General Suleiman . In doing so the media is trying to prepare the country for his dismissal as the only candidate and replacing him by a pro-Syrian candidate . The media even claimed that Syrian president Bashar al Assad has picked out one name from the list of candidates that Cardinal Sfeir has presented to Berri, but this could not be confirmed.

General Michel Aoun is not the candidate that Syria has in mind according to the sources. This is why when Aoun found out about Syria’s plans he decided not to go to the quartet meeting that was scheduled for last Saturday. Aoun pretended that he was sick with kidney stones and asked his son- in -law to represent him in the meeting . This is of course a big blow to Aoun’s dream.
This is the second time that the Syrians deceive general Aoun the first time was in 1988.

Aoun joined the Hezbollah-led opposition with the sole objective of replacing Lahoud as the next president . His alliance angered the Christian community and the parliament majority and turned his dream into a nightmare.

Damascus is hoping that this delay coupled with riots and violence by its allies will force the parliament majority to accept its candidate. This will be the key to the return of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon . This candidate has already been invited by Syria to attend the Arab leaders Summit in Damascus as Lebanon’s representative.

But last week Egyptian President Husni Mubarak has warned of "dangerous repercussions" for the Arab League summit which is scheduled to be held in Damascus in March.

"I hope that the crises in Lebanon will find its road to success without further delay so it won't have harmful repercussions on the planned summit ," Mubarak said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper.

Mubarak’s remark “harmful repercussions “ about the Damascus summit was interpreted by Cairo observers as meaning “ the summit faces cancellation”

The question is What is Assad's objection against Suleiman , knowing the fact that he was installed in his current position by the Syrian regime ?

- Egypt is the big problem . Syria considers him too friendly with Egyptian president Husni Mubarak. Syria does not like the fact that Suleiman paid a visit to Mubarak last year and Mubarak’s support for his election .

- The other problem is his meeting with US undersecretary David Welch and the feedback Syria’s allies fed the Syrians after the meeting.

- The third problem is the persistence of Suleiman on achieving a victorious end to the Nahr el-Bared battle with the Fatah al Islam terrorists , considering Syria’s association with that organization. Besides that made Suleiman a Hero and Syria does not want strong Lebanese presidents

The big question is : Who is this mystery candidate for the presidency that Syria has in mind ?

We don’t know , but we were given few clues: