Bush says patience with Assad ran out long ago

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday warned Damascus against interfering in Lebanon's political crisis, saying his patience with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had run out long ago.

"Syria needs to stay out of Lebanon," Bush told a news conference when asked whether he would be willing to talk to Assad about stabilizing Lebanon, where political tensions have risen to the highest level since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Bush also weighed in on the impasse within Lebanon over the choice of the next president. He said that if a deadlock between a pro-Western governing grouping known as the March 14 coalition and pro-Syrian groups cannot be resolved, then the coalition should prevail.

"If they can't come for agreement, then the world ought to say this -- that the March 14 coalition can run their candidate and their parliament. Majority plus one ought to determine who the president is," he said.

The Bush administration has long tried to isolate Damascus diplomatically, though Syria sent representatives to a U.S.-hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace conference last month in Annapolis, Maryland.

"My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago," Bush said. "The reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq and he destabilizes Lebanon," Bush said.

Bush was speaking less than three weeks before he visits Israel and the West Bank as part of a Middle East tour to push a fragile Israeli-Palestinian peace effort.

The White House left Syria and Lebanon off the stops on Bush's January 8-16 trip.