Lebanon's prime minister will discuss Mideast security issues and peace efforts with US President Barack Obama Monday during his first official visit to Washington as premier. Saad Hariri's visit comes amid regional tensions over Israeli claims that Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has acquired Scud missiles transferred from Syria. Syria denied the accusations and Hariri has compared them to the false American charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ahead of the 2003 US-led invasion. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has refused to confirm or deny the claims. Hariri's government, formed in November 2009, is made up of a coalition of Western-backed factions and Syrian-supported groups led by Hezbollah. He has recently reconciled with Syria. “Hariri does not want to cut his relations with Washington. His reconciliation with Syria and his stances in which he defended Hezbollah's weapons have caused for him a tacit problem with the Americans,” said Ibrahim Bayram of Lebanon's leading An-Nahar newspaper. “Hariri is trying to balance between his recent relation with Syria and his old relations with the United States,” he said.
