Roger Runningen Thu Oct 4, 1:01 PM ET Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- President George Bush again warned Syria not to interfere in Lebanon or try to influence the election of a new president scheduled for later this month.``I am deeply concerned about foreign interference in your elections,'' Bush told Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.  Hariri, who met with Bush this morning at the White House, is the current majority leader of the Lebanese parliament.

Lebanon has been wracked by violence, including the assassination of Hariri's father in February 2005 and last month's killing of another anti-Syrian politician, Antoine Ghanem. Bush has condemned the slayings and accused Syria of trying to destabilize Lebanon. ``The message has been sent to nations such as Syria that they should not interfere in the election of the President Busgh said. ``We expect Syria to honor that.''

Bush said he's asked Admiral William Fallon head of the U.S. Central Command, ``to go to Lebanon to assess how we can further help the government and the forces protect themselves from radical elements who are willing to use violence and terror to achieve objectives.''Hariri, who is following in his father's political footsteps, said terrorists want to ``finish our democracy,'' while the Lebanese are focused on preserving it.Won't Back Down``We will stay resolved, we will stay focused on our democracy, we will not back down,'' he said

Tue Oct 3, 2:08 PM ET DEIR AL-QAMAR, Lebanon (AFP) - Fifteen people were injured in fires that raged across forests and damaged houses to the north and east of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, a local official said. Fifteen people suffered injuries and burns, while 20 others were treated for respiratory problems" in the Shouf mountains east of Beirut, Deir al-Qamar municipality official Edy Renno told AFP.

"About 10 houses were partly burnt in the same region. Most of them were damaged on the rooftops because fires reached nearby trees," he said.He said several hectares of woods and valleys had caught fire in the ancient town of Deir al-Qamar and nearby villages where people wore surgical masks because of the smoke.

In valleys in and around Deir al-Qamar, acres of pine trees were burnt, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. Several electricity and telephone poles had collapsed on the side of the town's main road.Renno said two square kilometers (almost one square mile) of forest had been damaged in Deir al-Qamar where army helicopter and fire engines were struggling to extinguish the fires.Elias Nohra, a 42-year-old lawyer from Deir al-Qamar, told AFP that "the fires started last night at around 8 pm (1700 GMT) between Deir al-Qamar and (the nearby town of) Beiteddine."