Bush meets with Saad al-Hariri

The US President George W. Bush received today Saad al-Hariri, son of the former Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri who was murdered in February 2005. This came as a confirmation from Washington side on its support for Lebanon at the current conditions.

The US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice met on Thursday with Saad al-Hariri who presides over the parliamentary majority in Lebanon and stressed the US commitment to support Lebanon against the Syrian intervention.

Talks during the meetings dealt with the situation in Lebanon and in the region and the investigation carried out by the UN to the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri.

In this regard, Nicolas Michel, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, arrived in Beirut on Thursday in order to help in bringing accused persons in the murder of al-Hariri before an international court.

The UN delegate is expected to meet with representatives for the Lebanese authorities in order to discuss means of helping it in defining the nature of the necessary international aids on bringing persons accused in the murder of Hariri and other figures to a court of an international nature.