Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Lebanon next week to meet political leaders and visit Turkish troops serving with UNIFIL, a Lebanese government spokesman said Saturday.

During the one-day visit on January 3, Erdogan will meet President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, Parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Saad Hariri, head of the Lebanese anti-Syrian majority.

According to the source, Erdogan will discuss Turkey's "contributions to UNIFIL and the country's reconstruction and what Turkey can do to contribute to efforts to overcome the current political crisis engulfing the country."

Lebanon has been divided between pro- and anti-Syrian camps since the February 14 assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

Since December 1 the pro-Syrian opposition led by Hezbollah and its Christian allies has been holding a protest near the government's offices in central Beirut in a bid to topple the western-backed government and gain greater say in a new unity cabinet.

Turkey has 261 soldiers serving with United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), mainly as engineers helping with reconstruction of bridges after 33-days of war between Hezbollah and Israel in July-August, 2006.

© 2006 DPA