U.S. President George Bush will host Lebanese President Michel Suleiman September 25 for wide-ranging talks on the Middle East, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement Friday.

"The president looks forward to discussing bilateral relations between the United States and Lebanon, U.S. support for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon, and a range of regional issues," she said.

It will be their first meeting since Suleiman was elected in May.

The two leaders were expected to discuss the Middle East peace process as well as Syrian efforts to preserve its influence in its smaller neighbor, and Lebanese national unity talks scheduled for September 16.

The announcement of the visit came two days after the car bomb assassination Saleh Aridi, the first pro-Syrian political figure to die in an attack of this kind, in what was widely seen as an attempt to derail the unity talks.

The slaying of Aridi was the latest in a string of car bomb attacks began in Lebanon in 2005, targeting mainly anti-Syrian politicians.(AFP)