BEIRUT,
March 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Syrian
President Bashar Al-Assad was reportedly to declare a detailed
schedule of widrawing his troops from Lebanon, as a UN fact-finding
mission report found Lebanon’s inquiry into the killing of former
Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri seriously flawed and held
Syria responsible for insecurity and disorder in its neighbor Arab
country.
The
reported announcement is seen as critical to the organization of
Lebanese parliamentary elections in May.
Interviewed
by French television Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said
Assad was now within days of announcing a schedule for the withdrawal
of the estimated 10,000 troops remaining in eastern Lebanon.
“I
have had several conversations with the Syrian president and my last
one was yesterday in Algiers,” where an Arab summit took place,
Mubarak told France 3 television.
“The
Syrian president is implementing (UN Security Council) Resolution
1559” and will announce within a week a timetable for the withdrawal
of all of his forces from Lebanon,” Mubarak said.
“I
told him that it should take place before the (Lebanese legislative)
elections (due by the end of May) to avoid other problems, and I
believe he is fully aware of this. He is determined to withdraw his
troops and also the intelligence services which are in Lebanon.”
“Within
a week from now, I think that a precise timetable will be given to the
UN (United Nations),” Mubarak reasserted the reports in an interview
with French daily Le Figaro, according to an advance copy.
UN
Report
Meanwhile,
Lebanon’s president urged the United Nations to do whatever is
needed to find out who killed former premier Hariri after the release
of a hard-hitting UN report on the assassination, backing Lebanese
opposition demands for an international probe.
President
Emile Lahoud issued the appeal in a telephone conversation with UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday just before the release of a UN
report sharply critical of Syrian and Lebanese authorities over the
February 14 bomb attack that killed Hariri.
“President
Lahoud asked Mr. Annan to do what is necessary to establish the truth
behind this crime as rapidly as possible,” a statement from the
presidency said.
The
UN report, which did not determine who was behind the attack,
nonetheless concluded that Syria had created a climate of tension in
which the assassination occurred.
It
also faulted the Lebanese authorities for an investigation that it
said displayed “gross negligence” and possibly criminal actions,
adding that an independent international commission would be needed to
establish the truth.
“It
became clear to the mission that the Lebanese investigation process
suffers from serious flaws and has neither the capacity nor the
commitment to reach a satisfactory and credible conclusion,” Agence
France Presse (AFP) cited the report as saying Thursday, March 24.
“The
Lebanese security services have demonstrated serious and systematic
negligence in carrying out the duties usually performed by a
professional national security apparatus,” it added.
The
UN Security Council ordered the fact-finding mission to Lebanon last
month to report on “the circumstances, causes and consequences of
the assassination of the former Lebanese premier.
Hariri
was killed Monday, February 14, in a deadly blast that targeted his
motorcade passing in a western Beirut area near St. George hotel.
The
shattering explosion also claimed the lives of at least 14 others,
including several bodyguards of the 60-year-old charismatic Lebanese
figure.
Syrian
Responsibility
 |
|
Pro-Syria
massive demonstrations in Lebanon.
|
The
international team, led by Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter
Fitzgerald, claimed that the Syrian military intelligence bore primary
responsibility for a lack of security, protection and law and order in
Lebanon and that and Lebanese security forces showed “systematic
negligence,” Reuters said.
“Syria
bears primary responsibility for the political tension that preceded
the assassination of former Prime Minister Mr. Hariri.”
The
report cited numerous accounts of a meeting held between slain Hariri
and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to convince the Syrian leader not
to support the extension of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
“Mr.
Hariri met with (Syrian) President (Bashar) Al-Assad in Damascus in a
last attempt to convince him not to support the extension (of the
presidential term in Lebanon for Emile Lahoud last September.) “The
meeting reportedly lasted for 10 minutes, and was the last time Mr.
Hariri met with Mr. Assad,” the report said.
“According
to testimonies, Mr. Assad threatened both Mr. Hariri and Mr. (Walid)
Jumblatt with physical harm if they opposed the extension for Mr.
Lahoud.”
“He
(Assad) added that he ‘would rather break Lebanon over the heads of
Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken.”
No
Role
Responding
to accusations of being responsible for Hariri’s killing, Syria
denied any threats of “physical harms” in Lebanon, stressing that
the Lebanese authorities were able to investigate it on their own.
“It
is up to them, we don’t interfere with them in their affairs,”
said Syria’s UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad.
“Syria
had created a peaceful atmosphere” in Lebanon while the United
States and France had caused divisions there by calling for Syria to
withdraw forces in a Security Council resolution adopted last Sept.
2.”
Expectedly,
the Bush administration said the fact-finding report raised “serous
and troubling allegations”, pressing for launching an independent,
international commission to conduct an investigation into the killing,
according to Reuters.
“The
report once again makes clear the importance of immediate and full
withdrawal of all Syrian military and intelligence forces from
Lebanon,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
The
United States and France have been piling pressure on Damascus to
withdraw forces from neighboring Lebanon.
Following
talks with UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen Saturday, March 12, Syrian Assad
had pledged a two-stage military withdrawal from Lebanon.
