BEIRUT,
February 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Lebanese
Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad confirmed Thursday, February 24,
that Syria will soon redeploy its troops to the eastern Bekaa Valley
in conformity with the Taif agreement.
“The
Lebanese and Syrian leaderships have met and decided on the sixth
redeployment of the Syrian forces in Lebanon. They took the decision
to start the redeployment in the next few hours,” Mrad told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
He
stressed that once the new deployment is completed “all the Syrian
forces will be in the Bekaa Valley” near the Lebanese borders with
Syria.
Syrian
troops were seen packing their bags and preparing to move in the Aley
district northeast of the capital on the main mountain road between
Beirut and Damascus.
“We
are awaiting the green light,” one Syrian officer told AFP.
Mrad
said the two governments would jointly decide on the next steps in
accordance with the 1989 Taif agreement, which put an end to Lebanon's
1975-1990 civil war.
That
accord provides for “the two governments to determine the strength
and duration of the presence of the Syrian forces” but does not set
a specific deadline for a Syrian withdrawal.
There
have been a series of redeployments since June 2001, which have seen
Syrian troop numbers fall from a high of 40,000 after they first moved
in a year after the start of Lebanon's civil war to the current
14,000.
But
last September the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1559
sponsored by Paris and Washington demanding the withdrawal of all
foreign troops from Lebanon, a clear reference to the Syrian forces.
UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to
oversee its implementation.
He
held talks in Beirut and Damascus just before the assassination of
former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri and expressed optimism
about his mission.
Ready
to Cooperate
 |
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Mualem said Syria was ready to cooperate with the UN envoy on implementing resolution 1559. (Reuters)
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Syrian
Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Mualem said earlier on Thursday that
his country planned to pull back more troops to eastern Lebanon in
line with Taif agreement, reported Reuters.
The
diplomat also reaffirmed readiness to work with the UN to implement
resolution 1559.
“Syria
expresses its keen interest in cooperating with the envoy of the
secretary-general of the United Nations to accomplish his mission in
the best formula possible,” Mualem told reporters, reading from a
statement.
“The
important withdrawals that have been carried out so far and will be
carried out later will be done in agreement with Lebanon against the
backdrop of the Taif Agreement and the mechanisms it entails,” he
said.
He
cautioned, however, about a possible security vacuum in the
neighboring country.
“Syria
sees that speeding up the pace of the withdrawals requires that the
Lebanese army and internal security be enabled to fill the gap that
might occur in a way that does not infringe on the security of Lebanon
and Syria,” Muallem said.
US
President George W. Bush said on Wednesday, February 23, he would
await Syria's response to mounting pressures to withdraw its troops
from Lebanon before seeking possible UN sanctions against Damascus.
Unsatisfactory
In
a sign a redeployment would be too little to satisfy Syria's most
vocal opponents, Lebanon's Druze opposition figure Walid Jumblatt
reacted furiously to the announcement, reported Reuters.
“This
is a new farce solely to appease Lebanese opinion,” he told Radio
France Internationale in Beirut.
“It
won't work. These are men of the shadows, assassins.”
The
Lebanese opposition blames the government and Syria for the February
14 massive bomb blast in a Beirut seafront neighborhood that killed
Hariri and 17 others, a claim refuted by both sides.
UN
Team
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Lebanon pledged to
cooperate with the UN team led by Fitzgerald. (Reuters)
|
In
a related development, the three-member UN security team arrived late
Thursday in Lebanon to join the investigation into the assassination
of Hariri.
The
team, led by Irish deputy commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, was met at
Beirut airport by foreign ministry officials and the UN spokesman in
Lebanon, Nejib Friji.
The
team was due to “assist and cooperate” with Lebanese authorities
and was expected to contact security and judicial officials in the
country, sources close to the inquiry told AFP.
After
a weekly cabinet session on Thursday, Information Minister Elie Firzli
reiterated a pledge that the “Lebanese judiciary authorities will
not hesitate to assist, cooperate and coordinate” with the team.
The
UN team, which is made of forensic, judicial and political experts, is
due to complete their initial investigation within a month.
