BEIRUT, Aug 18 (AFP) - Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia on Wednesday strongly rejected calls by Washington for a change of leadership following the country's presidential elections later this year.
"Why do the Americans intervene in Lebanese affairs? And why do they give their views on a matter that is for the Lebanese parliament to decide?" asked Sheikh Naim Kassem, deputy leader of the Syrian-backed group.
"America tries to intervene everywhere, even in Lebanon," he charged in a speech to Hezbollah supporters in a suburb of south Beirut.
Washington's new ambassador to Beirut, Jeffrey Feltman, said in remarks quoted by Lebanese newspaper As-Safir that "Lebanon's constitution dictates that a new president must be elected every six years and the constitutional text must be upheld."
Under the Lebanese constitution, President Emile Lahoud cannot stand for re-election, although some Lahoud supporters are pushing for a constitutional amendment to allow him to seek a second six-year term in office.
Syria, which has maintained thousands of troops on the territory of its
smaller neighbour since intervening in a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, is thought to back a further term for Lahoud.
The Lebanese parliament is expected to elect a new president in September.
Sheikh Kassem also rejected recent calls by Washington for Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon.
"We the Lebanese, have chosen the presence of Syrian troops... If , one day, we decide that this presence is no longer necessary then they will withdraw... but we believe that they are a necessity for Lebanon," he said.
Both US diplomats and the US Congress called this month for Syria to pull out its troops, in what analysts said could presage further sanctions by Washington against Damascus.
The United States imposed sanctions in May against Syria, which it accuses of sponsoring terrorism, seeking to produce weapons of mass destruction, trying to destabilise Iraq and occupying Lebanon.