DAMASCUS, 13 September 2004 — Syria and Lebanon rejected any outside role in shaping their relations yesterday, a day after a top US State Department official said Damascus should pull its troops from its small neighbor.
Syrian Information Minister Ahmad Al-Hasan and his Lebanese counterpart Michel Samaha also rejected media reports heralding a change in ties between them or a redeployment of the 17,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon. “All those who wish to tackle the issue of ties, from outside these two states, should know that they would be interfering in a Lebanese issue of sovereignty,” Samaha told a news conference with Hasan in Damascus.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns said after meeting Syria’s president on Saturday it was time for Syria to quit Lebanon. He also voiced “deep concern over Syrian intervention” in its political process.
Hasan said pressure on Syria and Lebanon was intended to infringe on their sovereignty and the unity of their policy tracks. Samaha said Burns’ comments in Damascus would not affect prospects for any Syrian troop redeployment, which would be determined by security requirements and sovereign decisions of the two countries.
Samaha said Lebanon might even call for greater Syrian troop deployment if a foreign security threat emerged. “In that case we shield ourselves through a sovereign decision for redeployment in another way,” he said. Hasan questioned the legitimacy of a UN Security Council resolution adopted earlier this month calling on all foreign forces to leave Lebanon, for militias to disband and foreign governments to respect Lebanese sovereignty.
Hasan hailed Washington’s willingness to talk as a positive development in relations and reiterated Syria would cooperate with US security experts to try to stabilize Iraq.
In an apparent reference to Burns’ remarks that Syria must halt the activities of anti-Israeli groups to allow progress in Arab-Israeli peacemaking, Hasan said violence resulted from Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
