New Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri will visit Syria later Tuesday for talks with President Bashar al-Assad on the Middle East crisis, a source close to the government said.
Hariri, who has been blasted in the Lebanese press for the "Syrian influence" in the new government he formed Friday, is to discuss with Assad the "deterioration of the situation in the Palestinian territories," the source said.
More than 150 people, mostly Palestinians shot by Israeli troops, have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded in the violence that erupted in late September.
Syria is the main powerbroker in Lebanon with some 30,000 troops on the ground. Hariri, appointed prime minister last week, headed three previous Lebanese governments between 1992 and 1998 – DAMASCUS (AFP)
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