Lebanon summons US ambassador

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry has summoned US Ambassador to Beirut Maura Connelly over interfering in the country’s domestic affairs.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami asked Connelly to clarify the reasons behind her visit with lawmaker Nicolas Fattouch, a Press TV correspondent reported from Beirut.

The foreign minister “considers these kinds of contacts as interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Lebanon is in a political standoff after Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government collapsed on Wednesday when 11 Hezbollah-affiliated ministers resigned in a dispute over the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

The STL is probing the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

The US-sponsored tribunal is reportedly about to indict some Hezbollah members in the Hariri murder case — an allegation which has been vehemently rejected by the Lebanese resistance movement.

On Monday, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman postponed talks on the appointment of a new premier until next Monday.

“After assessing the positions of various parties in Lebanon … President Michel Sleiman has decided to postpone parliamentary consultations until Monday, January 24 and Tuesday, January 25, 2011,” read a statement released by the president’s office.