U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday to discuss the conflicts in Middle East, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"The secretary will go up Thursday night for dinner with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday. She'll have a briefing, along with Secretary- General Annan, from the U.N. team that will have just returned from the region to hear what it is that they were hearing in the region, hear their thoughts about the way forward," McCormack said.

"She'll integrate what she hears into her thinking about the diplomatic way forward," McCormack said.

The United States has voiced support for the United Nations to intervene in the conflicts between Israel and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration claimed that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah.

Source: Xinhua