Bush, Maliki to discuss "new phase" of Iraq violence

TALLINN, Nov 27 (Reuters) US President George W Bush will discuss with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki violence in Iraq that has moved into a ''new phase'', a senior White House official said today.

''We're clearly in a new phase, characterised by this increasing sectarian violence that requires us obviously to adapt to that new phase and these two leaders need to be talking about how to do that,'' Stephen Hadley, White House national security adviser, told reporters travelling with Bush to Estonia. Bush will meet Maliki in Jordan later this week.

The official also said Bush had spoken to Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak about sending a message to Syria to stop destabilising the Lebanese government.

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