US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made an unannounced visit to Lebanon, keeping up US pressure on Syria and pointedly avoiding any encounter with the pro-Damascus President Emile
Lahoud.
Amid stringent security measures in Beirut, Ms Rice met leaders from the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in a bid to shore up the government's drive for reform and full sovereignty.
She also vehemently reaffirmed Washington's call for Syria to cooperate fully with the inquiry into the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri as the head of the probe held talks with Syria's foreign minister in Damascus.
"The sole purpose of this trip is to express support for the Lebanese people and for the Lebanese government as they try to recover fully their sovereignty and they continue their efforts to reform," Ms Rice told reporters.
During the lightning visit, Ms Rice met officials including Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri.
Ms Rice said she would be telephoning parliament speaker Nabih Berri, seen as an ally of Damascus and a compromise figure, but did not meet or even call on President Lahoud.
"I talked in the past to him and my message was it is his reponsibility as president of Lebanon to be concerned by the sovereignty of Lebanon," Ms Rice said when asked if she had a message for Lahoud.
Ms Rice had held talks with Mr Lahoud on her last visit to Lebanon in July 2005.
Rice bypasses Syria
She said there was no need for her to visit Syria, which stands accused by a United Nations inquiry of being implicated in the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005. Damascus denies the charge.
"The Syrian government is well aware of what it needs to do. And it does not need me to come there to tell them," Ms Rice said.
"Syria should not be in a position to intimidate, or to continue to occupy by stealth, Lebanon and that there should be an understanding that Syria has responsibilities under (UN resolution) 1559," she added.
That 2004 resolution called for Lebanon's sovereignty to the respected and all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias in the country to be disarmed, a reference to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
Under the resolution, Syria withdrew its troops from its tiny neighbour in April last year after a presence of nearly three decades, a pullout forced by international pressure in the wake of the Hariri murder.
Ms Rice said she had spoken about the probe with Egyptian and Saudi leaders on the previous stages of her trip, as diplomats mooted an Arab initiative that would allow the inquiry to fulfill its demand of meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"I think everybody is exactly on the same page about it. I think there will be more messages delivered to Syria about the importance of cooperation," she said.
Her comments came as the head of the probe, Serge Brammertz, held talks in Damascus on what his spokeswoman described as a "very good" working visit.
State news agency SANA reported that he met with Syria's new Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, saying only they discussed "the means to advance the mission of the commission of inquiry."
"But it must be a truly full cooperation," Rice insisted. "A full cooperation means the the Syrians should cooperate in any way the investigators of Mr Brammertz thinks necessary."