DAMASCUS, 7 March 2005 — Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud will discuss here today the modalities of the Syrian troop pullout from Lebanon that Bashar announced Saturday.
“The Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council (SLSC) will draw a timetable for withdrawing the Syrian troops,” a source at the Ministry of Information told Arab News. The SLSC comprises the presidents of both nations, the secretary-general of the council, in addition to other senior officials including the defense ministers of the two countries. In Beirut, Lebanese Defense Minister Abdurahim Murad said the troop withdrawal would start immediately after the meeting. “The withdrawal starts tomorrow,” Murad said, adding the forces would pull back from northern Lebanon and Mount Lebanon in accordance with the Taif Accord that ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
The White House warned Syria that “half measures” would not do but a timetable for it to withdraw could be “worked out” if Bashar committed to removing all Syrian troops and secret services.
“If he is clear on living up to those demands, those things could be worked out when we say ‘immediate,’” White House counselor Dan Bartlett said, signaling some flexibility from Washington on the timing of a withdrawal. Bartlett, appearing on CNN and “Fox News Sunday,” said the United States and its allies would not stand by if Bashar did not comply fully.
Administration officials said several “next steps” — including punitive sanctions — were being discussed both within the administration and with key European allies.
In addition to the immediate and complete withdrawal of Syrian troops, Bartlett said Assad must commit to the full removal of Syrian secret services and intelligence officials “that really keep the clamp of fear on the Lebanese people.” Bartlett said Bashar failed to address the secret service issue in his address to Syrian Parliament on Saturday. The United States and its allies are also preparing contingency plans if Syria does withdraw completely, including sending international observers, officials in Washington said.
Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful party, threw its weight against Syria’s opponents yesterday, calling for a peaceful mass rally in central Beirut tomorrow in support of Damascus and against Western meddling.
The group, which has the largest following in the country and is the only one with weapons, has in the past steered clear of plunging into internal Lebanese politics or flexing its political muscles against domestic rivals. But after the Syrian announcement, the staunchly anti-Israeli group entered the domestic political ring facing the opposition.
The group’s chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned that Syria’s pullout could spell chaos for Lebanon and push it toward peace with Israel. “The aim of America and Israel is to spread chaos in Lebanon and bring back Lebanon to a state of chaos to find excuses for foreign intervention and to push some Lebanese to call for international intervention,” Nasrallah told a news conference.
