Lebanon links Syrian withdrawal to the situation in the region
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 9/22/2004

The Lebanese minister of defense Mahmoud Hammoud announced that the complete withdrawal of the Syrian forcers from Lebanon will be made after ending the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories.

Hammoud said in statements following the beginning of the redeployment of the Syrian forces from Beirut's outskirts that this operation will not be the last. He explained that the deployment will take several days and cover several areas from Lebanon.

In earlier statements on Tuesday, the Lebanese minister of defense said that redeployment comes in the course of implementing al-Taif accord in 1989, considering that this proves the improvement of the security condition in Lebanon.

Syria has started redeployment of its forces in the areas of Aramon and al-Damour to the south of Beirut. The redeployment operation covered 3,000 soldiers most of them will return back to Syria.

A Lebanese military source said that some 15,000 Syrian soldiers will continue to stay in the Lebanese territories upon the end of this redeployment process.

On the other hand, the Lebanese army announced " continuation of implementing the redeployment " following a meeting for the joint Lebanese- Syrian military committee.

A statement issued by the army said that it was agreed in the meeting to follow up the redeployment and define other points of stationing, according to the set plan by the two leaderships in implementation of the Taif Accord.

The Lebanese president classified this step as falling in the course of "coordination and cooperation between the Lebanese and Syrian armies with the aims to strengthen security and stability and in implementation of Taif accord." A statement issued by the Republic's presidency noted that Lahoud said during his meeting with the Syrian defense minister Lt. Hassan Turkmani that the role played by Syria is "to preserve Lebanon's unity and re-building its establishments including the army foundation." The re-deployment of the Syrian forces in Lebanon coincides with the international pressures on Damascus to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, embodied by a UN Security Council resolution no. 1559 which implicitly called for the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon and asked the UN secretary general to submit a report on the achievements made in this regard on October 3.

Previous Stories:
  Vast redeployment of the Syrian forces working in Lebanon starts today   (9/21/2004)
  Lahoud: Syria's presence in Lebanon is legitimate   (9/14/2004)
  Syrian Lebanese information ministers highlight constructive, stimulated dialogue with USA   (9/13/2004)

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