Clinton calls for free elections in Lebanon

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for free and fair elections in Lebanon during a visit to Beirut on Sunday ahead of a parliamentary vote that could see Hezbollah and its allies emerge victorious.

"I (came) to express our support and President (Barak) Obama's support for the people of Lebanon, for a free independent and sovereign Lebanon and for elections that will be free of any intimidation and outside interference," she told reporters after meeting with President Michel Sleiman during her previously unannounced visit.

She refused to speculate on the outcome of the June 7 vote that will pit the current Western-backed majority in parliament against an alliance led by militant group Hezbollah and backed by Syria and Iran.

"I am not going to speculate on the outcome of your election .... but we certainly hope that (it) will be free of intimidation and outside interference and that the results ... will continue a moderate positive direction that will benefit all the people of Lebanon," she said.

Clinton's visit, her first to Lebanon since taking office, came amid growing signs the longstanding US-led boycott of Hezbollah is breaking down.

Key US ally Britain last month ended its ban on dealings with the political wing of the group, which fought a devastating 34-day war with Israel in summer 2006.

Washington continues to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation but has yet to spell out what policy it will adopt if the group and its allies win the June vote.

"If Hezbollah wins, we will have to look at the composition of the government, and particularly at the programme, to evaluate ... what we are going to do in Lebanon," a senior State Department official travelling with Clinton told AFP.

Hezbollah officials say they have received assurances that the West does not envisage imposing the same sort of boycott as it slapped on the Palestinians when a Hamas-led government took power in March 2006.

"The ambassador of a key European country... informed us that the US will deal with any government, even though they are hoping the (Western-backed parliamentary) majority wins the vote," Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem told AFP earlier this month.

Clinton only met with Sleiman during her three-hour trip seen as a bid to bolster the current pro-US majority in parliament ahead of the parliamentary vote.

She also laid a wreath in downtown Beirut at the tomb of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, who was killed in a 2005 bombing widely blamed on Syria.

Damascus has denied any involvement.

Public outrage over the assassination forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April that year ending a three-decade presence.

Clinton's visit came on the fourth anniversary of the pullout and amid a rapprochement beween the United States and Syria which many fear could be at the expense of the Lebanese.

But the top US diplomat sought to allay such fears, saying: "There is nothing that we would do in any way that would undermine Lebanon's sovereignty.

"So I want to reassure any Lebanese citizen that the United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon or the Lebanese people."

She also reiterated US support for the international tribunal which is to try suspects in the Hariri bombing and said Washington would continue to support the Lebanese army.

"The Lebanese Armed Forces is the only legitimate armed force in Lebanon, the only force that is accountable to all Lebanese," she said, in response to a question about Hezbollah's weapons arsenal.

US military assistance to Lebanon has totalled more than 410 million dollars (309 million euros) since 2006 and includes aircraft, tanks, artillery and training.

But to what degree aid would continue under any new government led by a Hezbollah ally remains unclear.

Under the administration of George W. Bush, Washington led a boycott of Damascus -- with Tehran, Hezbollah's main foreign backer.

But under Obama that boycott has eased and last month Clinton's pointman for Middle East affairs Jeffrey Feltman visited the Syrian capital for talks which he described as "constructive".