BEIRUT, 19 December 2004 — The Syrian Army announced yesterday another limited pullback of troops in Lebanon, amid mounting international pressure on Damascus to pull out all of its forces and end interference in its smaller neighbor.
A senior Lebanese Army officer said that Syrian Army intelligence troops will be pulled out of their positions at Beirut airport, the southern suburbs of the capital, and in the northern coastal town of Batrun.
A Lebanese Army command statement confirmed that “under the directives of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Syrian President Bashar Assad ... a redeployment of Syrian (Army) intelligence posts has been decided.”
The Syrian Army intelligence office at the Beirut International Airport would be closed as well as that of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Batrun, said the statement. It was not clear whether the troops were being redeployed to the east of the country or would withdraw completely to Syria.
The measure came “in line with the joint coordination pertaining to the redeployment” of the thousands of Syrian army troops and intelligence forces in Lebanon, it said.
The decision to shut the Syrian intelligence posts comes amid growing international pressure for Damascus to end its political and military domination of its tiny neighbor.
In September, Damascus evacuated a few army positions south of Beirut, the sixth Syrian troop pullback operation in three years, that has brought down the number of Syrian troops in Lebanon from 35,000 to about 14,000.
Syria redeployed its forces in June 2001, again in April 2002 and then twice in 2003, withdrawing the bulk of its troops from Beirut and the surrounding areas into the eastern Bekaa valley.
The latest redeployment, 28 years after Syria first sent in troops a year after the outbreak of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, comes after the United Nations, the United States and the European Union ratcheted up the pressure on Damascus over its role in Lebanon.
UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed on Sept. 2, called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon and an end to interference in its politics, in a clear message to Syria.
It also called for the disarmament of militias, in reference to the Lebanese Shiite militant Hezbollah and Palestinian camps across the country.
Political analyst Emile Khoury said the redeployment came only few days after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Terje Roed-Larsen to follow up the implementation of the UN resolution.
“This move is a message to the outside ... as we know Larsen will begin his assignment next year so they (the Syrians) are trying to forestall his mission,” Khoury said.
A security source said meetings between Syrian and Lebanese officials were still under way and other redeployments could be expected soon. He added that the security forces were moved to the Bekaa Valley close to the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Lebanon and Syria both objected to Resolution 1559, considering it an interference in their internal affairs.
And just a day after the resolution was adopted, Lebanon’s Parliament passed a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment that extended the term of Damascus protege Lebanese President Emile Lahoud for another three years.
The UN resolution had sparked heated debate among the Lebanese over Syria’s role in Lebanon with some anti-Syrian groups asking for a complete Syrian withdrawal.
Last month, Lebanese Information Minister Elie Ferzli said implementing Resolution 1559 too quickly would result in “internal disorder,” as Syria’s “security cover ... is a factor in Lebanon’s internal stability.”
Ferzli also said the disarmament of Hezbollah, which still controls large parts of southern Lebanon after Israeli forces ended their 22-year occupation there in 2000, would be impossible without “overall regional peace.”
