Suleiman Heads to New York to Attend U.N. General Assembly, Meet Obama and Rowhani
President Michel Suleiman traveled to New York on Sunday to attend the United Nations General Assembly that is set for September 24, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Sunday.
He is “almost definitely” expected to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, it added, while not ruling out the possibility of a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani.
Suleiman is also scheduled to chair a meeting of an international support group for Lebanon aimed at helping it cope with the flow of Syrian refugees into the country.
The president is set to make a speech during the General Assembly session on Tuesday that will focus on the role of Lebanon's constitutional institutions, especially the army, an official source told al-Anba.
He will also stressed the need for the international community's protection of Lebanon, while emphasizing the importance of the country's stability and security.
The UNHCR has registered more than 746,000 Syrians in Lebanon, though many others remain unregistered.
The Lebanese government puts the number of Syrians in the country at 1.3 million, though that figure includes Syrians who were already in the country when the conflict began 30 months ago.
The crisis in Syria has placed enormous strain on Lebanon, politically and economically.
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