ALEY, Lebanon, 27 February 2005 — The world might be impatient for them to leave, but Syrian troops in west Lebanon yesterday were hanging out their sheets, keeping fit, and doing sentry duty. More than 48 hours after Syria promised a withdrawal to east Lebanon, there was no sign of its soldiers moving soon.
The Lebanese and Syrian governments have given no time frame for the redeployment, announced Thursday, in which Syrian soldiers are to leave the western areas of Lebanon and reposition themselves in the Bekaa Valley, closer to the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The withdrawal is designed to allay world and Lebanese pressure for Syria to remove all its 15,000 troops from its western neighbor.
UN-appointed experts sought clues yesterday into the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. Under increasing international pressure since the Feb. 14 murder, the Syrian-backed government in Beirut is bracing for a threatened censure vote in Parliament tomorrow when the opposition and the business community have called a one-day general strike.
The opposition has blamed Hariri’s killing on the pro-Syrian regime and Damascus. Beirut has denied any responsibility and agreed to cooperate with a UN commission of inquiry but have rejected a full international probe. A day after meeting government ministers and Hariri’s sons, the UN team of experts early yesterday visited his grave and the site of the bomb blast in central Beirut, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
They also met interim general prosecutor Rabia Qaddoura and senior officers from the internal security forces. Two days after announcing an imminent Syrian pullback, Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad told reporters yesterday that “the issue is on fire, but I cannot give a timing.
“We have not been informed about any specific timing for the redeployment. The Lebanese and Syrian military commands are the ones to decide that, and these are issues that cannot be announced ahead of time,” he said. A Lebanese security source told AFP that the Syrian redeployment had still not started yesterday at midday (1000 GMT).
Mrad said “the Lebanese Army is ready to replace” the Syrian troops in the areas to be evacuated “under the Taif agreement” which provides for a Syrian pullback into Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region. He rejected concerns expressed by Prime Minister Omar Karameh about the unity of the army. “The army was rebuilt (after the 1975-1990 civil war) on true and healthy bases which guarantee that the army remains united,” he said.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Thursday Damascus was ready to withdraw more troops, but that the move required “improving the capabilities of the Lebanese army and internal security forces to fill the vacuum.”It was still unclear if the planned Syrian pullback would lead to a complete withdrawal after nearly three decades of military presence in Lebanon, as demanded by Resolution 1559 passed by the UN Security Council last September.
Muallem’s remarks prompted US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield to say that a full pullout was overdue and that Washington had faith in the ability of Lebanese forces to take over. “The United States and the international community have full confidence in the Lebanese people and state institutions represented by the Lebanese army in order to ensure order and security with democratic means,” he said.
“The repeated threats which implied that if Lebanon becomes independent and free there will be a catastrophe are useless and meaningless to the Lebanese,” he told the US-funded Radio Sawa.
