BEIRUT: The U.S warned Lebanon it could face serious consequences should it fail to fund the U.N.-backed probe into the assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri, during a meeting between the U.S. envoy to Lebanon and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun Monday.

“[Ambassador Maura Connelly] expressed the United States’ concern that a failure by Lebanon to meet its obligations to the [Special] Tribunal [for Lebanon] could lead to serious consequences if Lebanon does not meet its international commitments,” a statement from the U.S. Embassy said.Connelly met Aoun, an outspoken critic of the international court who has repeatedly voiced opposition to Lebanon paying its share of the court’s budget, at the latter’s office in Rabieh.

“Ambassador Connelly told Gen. Aoun that the U.S. expects Lebanon to meet all of its international obligations, including Lebanon’s obligation to cooperate and fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” the statement said.

The issue of cooperation and funding of the STL, which in late June indicted four members of Hezbollah over the 2005 assassination of Hariri, has been a contentious issue between Lebanon’s rival March 8 and March 14 alliances, as well as elements in the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

While Mikati, President Michel Sleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt – three centrist elements in the Cabinet – have voiced their support for funding the court, Hezbollah, which denies involvement in Hariri’s assassination, and its other March 8 allies say they are fervently against Lebanon paying its 2011 share of the court, some $32 million.

The U.S. Embassy statement said Connelly and Aoun had also discussed the situation in Syria, where over 3,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in a crackdown by Damascus on protesters calling for the departure of Assad, according to the U.N.

“Ambassador Connelly reiterated the United States’ view that it is important to ensure that events in Syria to do not create instability or tension in Lebanon,” said a statement released by the U.S. Embassy.

Aoun, and other members in the March 8 coalition, have backed Damascus’ version of the unrest in Lebanon’s neighbor. Syria says ‘armed gangs’ have been responsible for the death of civilians and that there is a conspiracy plotted by foreign actors, aimed at targeting the Syrian leadership.

Lebanon, like Turkey, has hosted thousands of Syrians fleeing unrest in their home country. There have also been reports of brief incursions by the Syrian Army into Lebanese territory.