DAMASCUS, 5 March 2005 — Syrian President Bashar Assad is likely to announce a troop withdrawal from Lebanon in a speech in Parliament today. “President Assad will deliver an important speech at the People’s Assembly in the afternoon. The speech will deal with current political developments in the region,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said in a brief statement.

It was unclear how far the pullback would go to meet UN demands for a complete withdrawal. Informed sources said Bashar would be announcing Syria’s position on the developments in Lebanon and the conditions for withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon.

US President George W. Bush said he wanted all Syrian forces out by May, when Lebanon holds parliamentary elections.

“I don’t mean just the troops out of Lebanon, I mean all of them out of Lebanon, particularly the secret service out of Lebanon — the intelligence services,” he told the New York Post in an interview published yesterday.

“This is nonnegotiable. It is time to get out,” he said. “I don’t think you can have fair elections with Syrian troops there.” Bush told the paper there was no threat of military action.

Lebanese Defense Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad suggested Syria wanted to keep some troops in the country on a long-term basis, saying a complete removal of the troops would have to be negotiated between Syria and Lebanon’s governments — as called for in a 1989 agreement.

Under the Taif Accord, he said, the two governments will “discuss the number of troops required to stay and outline the areas where they would be stationed until the (Arab-Israeli) issue is settled.”

In the speech to the People’s Assembly in Damascus, “we expect President Assad to announce a redeployment to the Bekaa region” in eastern Lebanon, Murad said.

He answered “No” when asked whether the redeployment meant a full withdrawal.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said Syrian and Lebanese leaders had agreed on an action plan for carrying out the Taif Accord, but he would not comment on a timetable or give further details. “You will hear details of this plan soon,” he said during a visit to Moscow. Asked whether Bashar would announce the troop pullback today, Mouallem replied, “I think so.”

Syria yesterday denied reports quoting a senior Saudi official as saying that Crown Prince Abdullah had told Bashar that he had to pullback his troops from Lebanon, “otherwise Syrian-Saudi relations would face difficulties.”

“Such reports are inaccurate and baseless and the reluctance of the news agency to name the Saudi official proves the incredibility of the news,” SANA said, stressing that Bashar held “very fruitful talks with Crown Prince Abdullah in a very friendly atmosphere as it was also confirmed by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Pressure piled on Syria to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14 that some in Lebanon, US, and France blamed Syria for. Syria strongly denied such allegations.

— Additional input from agencies