Lebanon's FM in Moscow for talks with counterpart

Moscow, Nov 17 :   Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was due on Friday to hold talks with Sergei Lavrov and afterwards to hold a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Lebanese news agency Nna reported.

Bassil met Italy's Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Wednesday in Rome as part of a diplomatic tour of Europe's capitals for bilateral meetings on Lebanon's current political crisis.

The political crisis erupted on November 4 with the shock resignation of premier Saad Hariri in a broadcast message from Saudi Arabia.

In the message, Hariri, a Sunni Muslim with Saudi ties, accused Iran of meddling in Lebanon and sowing "discord, devastation and destruction" in the Middle East and claimed there was an assassination plot against him.