MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syrian government forces are the only ones to be present on the southern border of Syria, close to Jordan and Israel, the Russian news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Monday.

Lavrov made his statement at a joint press conference in Moscow with Mozambican Foreign Minister Jose Kundungwa Pacheco.

Saad Hariri, who was appointed prime minister last week, is scheduled to hold consultations with newly elected deputies in parliament on Monday over the new government expected to include all major Lebanese parties.

Hariri's newspaper al-Mustaqbal said Berri told people who visited him "there is no interest in delaying the birth of the government or in putting the contract before it."

Hariri, who will become prime minister for the third time, said last week that all parties agreed that the existence of domestic economic risks and growing regional risks meant the need to form a national unity government as soon as possible.