BEIRUT, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior U.S. official said that al-Qaida might have moved recently some of its activities from Iraq to Lebanon and Afghanistan though the number of al-Qaida members in Lebanon is "limited," local As-Safier daily reported here Thursday.

    U.S. Department of State's Coordinator for Counterterrorism Dell Dailey made the remarks in a recent interview with As-Safier, according to the daily.

    Dailey was quoted as saying that al-Qaida might have moved some of its activities in Iraq to Lebanon and Afghanistan after the chances of operating in Iraq are getting thin.

    However, "I do not see huge number of al-Qaida members in Lebanon, there is few," Dailey stressed.

    Al-Qaida-inspired group of Fatah al-Islam in north Lebanon have been responsible for several attacks against the Lebanese army in the past two years, and many of its members have been arrested.

    Dailey, meanwhile, criticized the situation in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, expressing his worries about the Syrian influence inside the Lebanese government.

    "Some Lebanese who are not connected to Hezbollah would have a problem with a Syrian-Lebanese security coordination" and the United States would not encourage the coordination, he said.

    Recently, Lebanon's Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji have separately visited Syria on security coordination, which were criticized by Lebanese leaders from the ruling coalition.