BEIRUT, 15 June — Syrian troops began leaving Beirut and surrounding areas yesterday. Reuters correspondents saw Syrian soldiers moving their beds and tents away from five strategic positions in the area of Yarze, one of the Christian areas of Beirut near the Defense Ministry that the Lebanese Army announced Syria would quit.
They also saw two Syrian Army trucks, carrying multiple rocket launchers, driving out of Beirut. They were followed by coaches packed with Syrian soldiers.
“We have started the redeployment operation. We evacuated five positions and handed them over to the Lebanese Army,” a Syrian officer, who refused to give his name, said.
Another soldier, seemingly happy at the news, borrowed a mobile phone and called his wife in Syria to tell her that he would be with her in a few days.
The announcement was made in an official Lebanese Army statement. It took politicians as well as ordinary Lebanese by surprise. “Army units of the brotherly Syrian forces working in Lebanon will carry out a redeployment in the coming few days in the areas of Yarze, Baabda and other areas in Beirut and Mount Lebanon,” the directorate of the army command said. Security sources told Reuters the redeployment concentrated on mainly Christian areas where the presidential palace and the army headquarters are located.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said the move confirmed the depth of relations between Lebanon and Syria. A withdrawal of Syria’s troops, stationed in Beirut as well as northern and eastern Lebanon, has been a long-standing and controversial demand by Christian leaders in Lebanon. Syria sent troops into Lebanon early in the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.
It was not entirely clear if the latest Syrian military move marked an overall reduction in force levels throughout Lebanon, or was simply a limited redeployment to less sensitive areas.
The demand for a Syrian pullout, led by Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, has inflamed tensions. It has threatened to divide Lebanon once again along sectarian lines reminiscent of the 1975-90 civil war. The controversy also included other, non-Christian voices, such as that of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
President Emile Lahoud brokered talks between Sfeir and top Syrian leaders, with Lebanese envoy Fouad Butros acting as mediator.
