Sources in the State Department told KUNA on condition of anonymity that Ambassador Feltman left Lebanon this morning heading to Washington, many hours before the blast in Beirut and Ambassador Sisson will soon replace him.

"Ambassador Sison arrives to Beirut as a diplomat who has been tested", said Vice President of the Middle East Institute David Mack in an interview with KUNA.

Sison has been the US Ambassador in UAE since July 2004, before that she was serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs focusing mainly on Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

Mack, who know Sison in her capacity as Ambassador to UAE, said that she has "a good command of the situation and good respect from people there".

Mack said the US embassy in Lebanon is not the largest in the region but is "very critical to our interest and it is one of the toughest job".

Meanwhile, Ambassador Feltman would soon travel to Washington to serve as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, a job that is currently held by Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Satterfield on an interim basis.

Satterfield, also a former US ambassador to Lebanon, would now focus on his main portfolio as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Coordinator for Iraq, a position he held in August 2006.

Mack said that Ambassador Sison enjoys a good relation with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

The new ambassador also built a personal contact with President George W. Bush during his visit to UAE earlier this month, when she went along with President Bush, Secretary Rice, White House National Security Advisor Steve Hadley to the desert encampment of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sison, 49, served in the diplomatic mission in Pakistan (1999-2002), India (1996-1999), Cote DIvoire (1993-1996), Benin (1988-1991), Togo (1984-1988), and Haiti (1982-1984).

Sison only known public contact on Lebanon so far was when she announced in her capacity as Ambassador to UAE the transportation of 300 metric tons of lentils from an existing stockpile in Dubai to London for the attention of the World Food Program.

She described the shipment in a press conference then as "part of the disaster relief that will help the Lebanese people rebuild their homes and return to their towns and communities" in the wake of Israels war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

"I want to make very clear that America is making and has made a long term commitment to help the people of Lebanon", she replied in response to a question about how Washington can simultaneously provide Israel with weapons and deliver aid to Lebanon.

"We believe that every person deserves to live in a free and open society and we have stated throughout, particularly during the period of the crisis that we reject the killing of innocents to achieve a radical agenda and I am looking at Hezbollah as I speak to this", she added in the press conference.

In December 2005, she was named the Abolitionist Ambassador of the Year by the State Department for her role in "stimulating UAE government action to rescue and shelter more than 800 trafficked children".

Sison is a first generation Filipina-American, has two teenage daughters, and focused her recent diplomatic tenure mainly on strengthening security and trade cooperation with UAE.

In December 2004, she highlighted in a workshop about Arab media development in Abu Dhabi the importance of free media and that reform would only emerge within the region.

Sison would not need a Senate confirmation at this point since she will be acting as a Charge dAffaire until a Lebanese president is elected.

Sources in the State Department, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, highly praised Sison as "a fast track and energetic" diplomat with great reputation in the foreign service community predicting that she will be a star in her new tenure in Lebanon.

Yet, the comfort and luxury of the UAE is not even close to the ongoing turmoil in Lebanon, she takes on this new job amidst the presidential crisis and following a critical attack on a US embassy vehicle and another blast in Beirut today.

She lacks the Arabic language skill, but she comes with less political baggage and a wide diplomatic portfolio that would help her navigate in Lebanons diversity in an embattled country where Washington "realized that its influence is limited," according to Mack. -Kuna