US says Lebanon's leaders must stop putting their own interests above country's people

The United States believes that leaders and elites in Lebanon must stop putting their own interests and ambitions above the country's people, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah and its allies thwarted a bid by their rivals to elect a top IMF official as the country's president, sharpening sectarian tensions and further dimming prospects for preventing a collapse of the state.