BEIRUT, Sept 9 (AFP) - The US pointman for the Middle East is due in Syria in the coming days despite a crisis in relations that has led Washington to slap sanctions on Damascus, Lebanese diplomatic sources said Thursday.
William Burns, currently on a swing through several Arab capitals, would be the first high-level US official to visit Syria in more than a year.
The visit comes as Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri announced his government would stand down later this month, bringing to a head a political crisis over Syria's influence in its smaller neighbour.
Burns has cancelled a visit to Beirut scheduled for this weekend, the sources said. That would suggest he will instead be in Damascus, although US officials have not confirmed the visit.
The administration of US President George W. Bush -- the top ally of Syrian arch-foe Israel -- imposed sanctions on Damascus in June over charges it was supporting terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction.
Washington was also behind a UN Security Council Resolution a week ago that -- in a clear message to Damascus -- calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and respect for its sovereignty.
Syria, the major power broker in Lebanon, has about 16,000 troops stationed in Lebanon, a holdover since it intervened in the country's civil war in 1976.
The UN resolution was adopted in the face of a Syrian-inspired amendment to Lebanon's constition that gives its protege, President Emile Lahoud, a second term in office when his mandate expires in November.
That amendment drew opposition both abroad and in Lebanon, where Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri announced Thursday that his government would resign, holding its last meeting on September 20.
Four cabinet ministers from the government of Hariri -- a political rival of Lahoud's -- resigned in protest over the amendment.
Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was in Amman on Wednesday where he held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II on the situation in Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, Petra news agency reported.