DAMASCUS, 3 April 2005 — Syria will announce here today a timetable for full withdrawal of its troops and military intelligence personnel from neighboring Lebanon and the UN special envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, will be officially briefed about the pullout schedule during his meeting with President Bashar Assad this morning.
Informed sources at the Syrian Foreign Ministry told Arab News that Foreign Minister Farouk Shara will hold a joint press conference with Larsen at the Meridian hotel at 11:30 a.m. to announce the details of the timetable.
“Minister Shara will be holding a joint press conference with Larsen to make an important announcement regarding the developments in Lebanon and the region,” the sources said, adding that the planned statement would give all the details pertaining to the Syrian troop pullout from Lebanon expected to be completed before May parliamentary elections there.
Military sources told Arab News that all the Syrian Special Forces and military intelligence personnel have already left Lebanon following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “Less than 7,000 troops have remained redeployed at the eastern Bekaa Valley. They are the remaining parts of the ordinary military foot soldiers who are expected to be pulled back within less than a week,” the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami, at a meeting late Friday with his pro-Syrian allies, decided to stay on, despite having failed over the past three weeks to form a new government to ease Lebanon’s political crisis. Karami, who said Tuesday he would resign, was tasked with forming a Cabinet “to save the country”, following the opposition’s refusal to join a national unity government, said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
He said the new government would draw up an electoral law based on larger constituencies and proportional representation, changes favoring the pro-Syrian camp.
“We will not agree to anything else,” Berri, a key figure in the pro-Syrian camp, told reporters.
The opposition accuses the pro-Syrian camp of foot-dragging ever since the assassination of Hariri to retain its control of Parliament and not face the electorate’s anger over the murder.
The killing of Hariri, blamed by the opposition on the Lebanese authorities and their backers in Damascus, sparked a wave of popular protests which led to Karami stepping down on Feb. 28.
President Emile Lahoud asked Karami to return 10 days later, while the Syrian Army has since March 5 been withdrawing its troops from Lebanon, a process Damascus pledged will be completed ahead of polls.
— With input from agencies
