ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 1 - Syria 'Plotting To Destabilise' Lebanon.

The US on Wednesday said it had mounting evidence that Syria, Iran and Hizbullah were planning to "topple" the elected Lebanese government and told them to keep their "hands off". The US warning reflects growing concerns that Lebanon's Hizbullah, an armed faction and political party backed by Syria and Iran, is raising the pressure for a change of government, now dominated by pro-western forces. The US statement came hours after Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah leader, vowed to stage peaceful protests demanding fresh elections unless his opponents agreed to the creation of a national unity government to replace that of Fouad Siniora, the PM, by mid-November. The White House said: We are increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian government, Hizbullah and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to topple Lebanon's democratically elected government". Later, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said the US was "making it clear to everybody in the region that we think that there ought to be hands off the Siniora government; let them go about and do their business". Hizbullah, which has 14 of parliament's 128 seats, is represented in the government by two ministers but demands that its Christian allies, now in opposition, also be brought in. Siniora has rejected demands for change but top political leaders are due to hold talks on the issue next week. The warning - dismissed by Hizbullah as "just one more American interference in Lebanese affairs" - followed a diplomatic initiative by Tony Blair, the UK PM, who sent his top foreign policy adviser to meet Bashar al-Assad , the Syrian president, in Damascus on Monday. Sir Nigel Sheinwald first visited Washington where he met senior US officials to discuss the situation in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as his planned mission to Syria. But analysts said such consultations did not mean that the US and UK were in agreement over their policy towards Damascus, with the US seeking to isolate Assad and the UK exploring ways to engage Syria and test its willingness to play a more constructive role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians". We went to [Damascus] express our concerns on these issues", said a Downing Street official on Wednesday night. "We want to see concrete action and we are now waiting to see what concrete reaction there might be from the Syrians". The UK is as concerned as the US about a potential fall of the Lebanese government, as pressure mounts from Hizbullah and its allies in Beirut. The anti-Syrian coalition that now controls the government believes that part of the Hizbullah attempt to widen the participation in the government or bring a new cabinet is to derail plans for an international tribunal to try the perpetrators of the killing of the former PM Rafiq Hariri. Sean McCormack, the US state department spokesman, said Hizbullah which "started a war in the region" with Israel, would stop at nothing to achieve its ends. In Damascus on Monday, Sir Nigel told Assad there was a range of actions that Syria could take which would be in its own interest and that of the international community. The UK is exploring whether Syria can move the Palestinian Hamas movement towards adopting the conditions set by western governments to move the peace process forward.