Lebanon's Hariri says no alternative to dialogue

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri (L) meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan before their meeting in Ankara January 14, 2011.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Friday that the country's rival political factions had no alternative to dialogue after the collapse of his "unity government" this week.

"There is no alternative for all of us to dialogue, and no side in Lebanon will be able to eliminate the other," Hariri said in his first public comments since Hezbollah and its allies resigned and brought down the government on Wednesday.

Hariri said he would work with President Michel Suleiman, who will start consultations on Monday to form a new government, but did not specify whether he would be a candidate for the post of prime minister.

"I will stick to my commitment to open up to cooperation with the president and all leaderships on the basis of continuous dialogue and reaching logical solutions for our common issues, no matter how complicated it is," he said.

Hariri was speaking after returning from an international tour including the United States, France and Turkey.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after receiving Hariri that his country was thinking of organizing a series of meetings attended by the United States, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, to tackle Lebanon's crisis.

(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Jason Neely)