Lieberman: Lebanon should help Syrian opposition

US Senator Joseph Lieberman said Wednesday Beirut needed to help the Syrian opposition and do more for refugees fleeing unrest in their home country while voicing understanding of Lebanon’s dissociation policy toward events in Syria. Lieberman, who had earlier inspected the Lebanon-Syria border, also told reporters following talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he had praised the government for its assistance to Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon as a result of the unrest in their home country. The US senator, who arrived in Lebanon Tuesday from Saudi Arabia, was flown by helicopter early Wednesday to the north Akkar town of Andaqit. Under Lebanese Army escort, Lieberman, at the head of a US delegation, headed to the Bqayaa border crossing of Wadi Khaled, where talks with local officials centered on ways for allowing the passage of convoys carrying UN monitors into Homs, western Syria. Following his meeting with Mikati, Lieberman held talks with President Michel Sleiman at Baabda Palace. Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who arrived in Lebanon Tuesday from London, met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain al-Tineh in Beirut before noon. Feltman did not make a statement following his one-hour meeting with Berri. Feltman’s visit kicked off Tuesday with a meeting with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt in Clemenceau, Beirut, where the Lebanese official held a dinner banquet in Feltman’s honor. Lieberman, US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly, Cabinet ministers Ghazi Aridi, Wael Abu Faour and Alaeddine Terro, as well as PSP deputy foreign affairs official Doreid Yaghi and Jumblatt’s son, Taymour, all took part in the event. Feltman's last visit to Beirut was in February to offer his condolences over the death of former MP and Cabinet Minister Nassib Lahoud. he tex