Al-Assad meets with Lahoud in Damascus, Syrian forces prepare for withdrawal
Syria-Lebanon, Politics, 3/7/2005

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud today, Monday, held meetings in Damascus to approve the plan of the Syrian forces withdrawal from Lebanon. Its first phase is expected to start immediately after the summit meeting between the two presidents by the redeployment of the Syrian forces to the Bekaa plain.

Following the end of bilateral talks between the two presidents, President Emile Lahoud and President Bashar al-Assad presided over meetings of the Syrian- Lebanese higher council with the participation of the two states' prime ministers Naji Otari for Syria and the resigned Lebanese prime minister Omar Karami, the two ministers of foreign affairs and the parliament speakers. This is the first time in which the higher council meets since March 2002.

The defense minister in the resigned government Abdul Rahim Murad said that an agreement will be first made on the steps of withdrawal to the Bekaa and later, in coordination between the two states, defining the mechanism of withdrawal from the Bekaa to the Syrian borders.

The media advisor for the Lebanese President Rafik Shalala said that the withdrawal to the borders will be decided today ( Monday) as a principle and work plan and will postpone agreement on details until a new Lebanese government is formed, and then it will coordinate with Syria over this issue, according to the Taif accord.

Shalala told Syrian, Lebanese and foreign correspondents gathering at the Syrian presidential palace to cover news of the events that the Syrian- Lebanese higher council that they will approve the general policy for withdrawal today and technical and logistic military details will be left for the military leaderships in the two sides to define them.

News reports in Lebanon where the Syrian forces exist said that the Syrian forces started to dismantle its equipments in preparations for withdrawal from there. The Syrian forces were seen in positions in al-Mdeirej, Soufer, Alei to the east of Beirut, while dismantling its telecommunications equipments and loading trucks with military equipments in preparations to evacuate these positions.

However, these Syrian measures both as decision and on the ground have not yet won the satisfaction of Washington which vowed to continue together with its allies pressures on Damascus to carry out a complete and immediate withdrawal from Lebanon. The Advisor at the White House Dan Partlit demanded Damascus to set a time table for the withdrawal of its forces and intelligence prior to the Lebanese elections in May this year.

For its part, Israel invested the western campaign against Damascus in escalating its verbal war against Syria, addressing its very common accusations to Damascus as threatening the region's stability and supporting the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Assad: we will withdraw our forces completely; we committed mistakes in Lebanon   (3/5/2005)
  Saad on the Taif Accord   (3/5/2005)
  Syria announces withdrawal plan from Lebanon   (3/5/2005)

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