SYRIA VOWS COMPLETE AND SWIFT LEBANON PULLOUT
DAMASCUS, Sunday (Reuters) - SYRIA vowed a complete and swift two-phased withdrawal
of its troops from Lebanon but President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus
would still play a role in the tiny neighbour it has dominated for 30
years.
Lebanese greeted Assad's announcement with screams of
delight in central Beirut, while opposition figures in Lebanon and
European leaders cautiously described the move as positive. But
Washington, which says Syrian "support for terrorism" impedes Middle
East peace, dismissed the pullout plan as inadequate and reiterated its
call for a complete and immediate withdrawal of Syrian forces from
Lebanon.
After mounting international pressure and faced with
daily protests inside Lebanon to end its security presence there, Assad
told parliament Syrian troops would initially pull back to the Bekaa
Valley in eastern Lebanon and then to the border area.
"By this measure Syria would have fulfilled its
commitment towards the Taif Accord and implemented (U.N. Security
Council) Resolution 1559," he said. The Taif Accord ended Lebanon's
1975-1990 civil war and, among other points, stipulated the withdrawal
of Syrian troops from most of the country within two years.
Resolution 1559, adopted last September by the U.N.
Security Council at the initiative of the United States and France,
called for foreign troops to quit Lebanon completely. Elaborating on
Assad's announcement, Syrian cabinet minister Buthaina Shaaban said her
country's troops would withdraw to the Syrian side of the border.
"The Syrian army wants to pull out quickly ... as soon
as possible logistically," Shaaban told Lebanon's LBC television. "The
political decision has been taken for a complete withdrawal." She said a
meeting between the two countries' leaders on Monday would agree on the
details, including the timing.
Assad said Syria, which first deployed troops in Lebanon
in 1976, would not relinquish its role in the country.
"Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon does not mean the
absence of Syria's role (in Lebanon)," Assad said. "Syria's strength and
its role in Lebanon is not dependent on the presence of its forces in
Lebanon."
"Withdrawal does not damage Syrian interests. On the
contrary it fosters Syrian interests ... That is why we began
withdrawing five years ago and have withdrawn 63 percent of the forces,"
Assad added.
Lebanon's main opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said
Assad's speech was a "positive start ... Our hands are extended with the
insistence on a timetable for the withdrawal".
Christian opposition figure, former President Amin
Gemayel, with caution. "What is dangerous is this deployment on the
borders. We have information that the Syrian army will stay in the
mountain range within the Lebanese border," Gemayel said.
The United States, Syria's most vocal critic, said
Assad's pledge to pull back had not gone far enough. "We mean complete
withdrawal - no half-hearted measures," said White House spokeswoman
Erin Healy, repeating the phrase State Department spokeswoman Darla
Jordan had used earlier. Russia, Britain and the European Union
expressed satisfaction with Assad's announcement, saying it was a first
step towards a full withdrawal.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said
he had asked his special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, to travel to Beirut
and Damascus this week to discuss the "full, complete and immediate
implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559". |
