BEIRUT, March 11, 2005 (IslalmOnline.net & News Agencies) – Despite pressing on with its phased withdrawal from Lebanon, Syria is reportedly coming under renewed pressure from the international community, risking political and economic isolation if it does not completely and quickly withdraw forces from Lebanon, according to a leading US newspaper Friday, March 11.

During their expected meeting Saturday, special UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen is planning to inform Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that he will face wide punitive sanctions if he does not act quickly on pulling out forces from Lebanon, UN and US officials told The Washington Post.

“If he doesn't deliver, there will be total political and economic isolation of his country. There is a steel-hard consensus in the international community,” a senior UN official told the daily.

Last week, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told parliament he would withdraw Syrian troops to the Bekaa and then to the borders, in accordance with Taif Accord.

Early Friday, the Syrian troops in Lebanon have packed up and pulled from positions near a strategic pass overlooking the Lebanese capital toward eastern Lebanon and the Syrian borders, witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Heavy duty trucks hauling artillery pieces and tanks formed convoys were seen heading east toward the Bekaa valley and Syria along the 1,600-meter-high Baidar pass, AFP said.

The Syrian troops in northern Lebanon were also seen continuing to strike camp, having already left most of their positions in the region, according to AFP correspondents.

Appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to ask the Syrian President for a definite timetable on military withdrawal from Lebanon, Larsen held talks with senior European and Arab officials, latest of which was his meeting Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon.

Larsen's talks with US, European and Arab officials aimed at leaving Damascus no political escape routes, the US daily said.

The senior UN official told the daily that the UN envoy had found “remarkable” support for a tough showdown with the Syrian leader.

The United States and France have been piling pressure on Syria for a complete withdrawal of troops and intelligence services from Lebanon.

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.

The Lebanese opposition sees Karami's re-appointment as “an escalation”. (Reuters)

During their talks Saturday, the UN envoy is expected to inform the Syrian leader of a four-step plan he must follow, the US daily said.

First: Syria must respect Lebanon's independent sovereignty and avoid undermining its May legislative elections.

“Roed-Larsen will imprint on everybody that there is a united demand from the international community for free and fair elections that will include international observers,” the UN source told the US paper.

Second: the Syrian President must provide a complete timetable on the military withdrawal from its neighbor.

“The international community will accept sequencing, or a phased withdrawal, but it must be expeditious,” the source said.

The third step of the plan incorporates that Damascus must provide a timeline for the pullout of around 5,000 intelligence agents in Lebanon, the daily said.

Finally, the UN envoy will discuss other requirements in UN Security Council resolution 1559, including the need to disarm and dismantle foreign and domestic militias operating in Lebanon, in reference to the resistance group Hezbollah, UN and US officials said.

But the United Nations is prepared to wait until after the May elections to allow a new Lebanese government to deal with the militia problem, they added.

Meanwhile, Lebanon was locked Friday in a tense political standoff following a blunt rejection from the Lebanese opposition to a call from reinstalled Prime Minister Omar Karami for joining a national unity government, AFP said.

The Christian opposition movement, Qornet Shahwan, said Karami’s re-appointment “is an escalation that means a continuation of Syrian guardianship”.

Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister Omar Karami was designated Thursday, March 10, to form a national unity government.

“The only way to confront all the difficulties facing the nation is a government of national unity,” Karami said.

The prominent Druze opposition figure Walid Jumblatt also said Karami's comeback was a “disappointment” and “an extension of the crisis” in the country.