Lebanese Sunni majority leader Saad Hariri said Saturday unity among Arab ranks would prevent Iran from interfering in Arab affairs, local Elnashra website reported.

Addressing a dinner in Beirut hosting representatives of partisans living overseas, Hariri said "Iran was behind the Arab splits and divisions."

"There are several confrontations (in the region) and Lebanon is the first line of defense," Hariri said, adding that the forthcoming elections in Lebanon are also the "first line in defense of Lebanon."

He described the upcoming general parliamentary elections which is scheduled for June as "crucial."

The upcoming elections will decide on who will rule the country for the next four years, and the competition is increasing between the ruling coalition backed by the West and the opposition led by Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Hariri, however, assured his guests that Syria would never return to Lebanon, pointing to the Lebanese opposition who are allies with the Syrians.

"Whatever the Syrians do, and whatever happens, they will never be able to return to Lebanon," Hariri said.

Following huge demonstrations after the assassination of Saad's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in 2005, ending 29 years of military and political domination of its small neighbor.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2009)