US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Mrs. Barbara Leaf, arrived in Beirut yesterday evening, to start her meetings today, as she is scheduled to visit Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, amid exceptional security and non-security measures accompanied the visit.

Informed diplomatic sources told Al-Jumhuriya that “Lif will not make any statement after her scheduled official political and diplomatic meetings, and will settle for a statement published by the US embassy at the end of the visit, and she will have an interview with a local TV channel to be broadcast after her departure from Beirut, knowing that she did not stay in any country during its last tour, which includes Beirut, for more than two to three days.