Syria vows complete withdrawal before May
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 3/9/2005

The Syrian ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa said that Syria started to withdraw its forces from Lebanon as from Tuesday and that the withdrawal will be completed before May.

In a statement to CNN, Mustafa said that Damascus will withdraw its forces as soon as possible a long time before May, adding "some of the forces were pulled out into inside Syria as from Tuesday." Mustafa, who explained that the withdrawal in the first phase will be until the Bekaa plain and then into inside the Syrian borders, expressed his hope that the pull out of his country's forces from Lebanon will be an opportunity to revive the peace process and push Washington to concentrate its efforts and pressure it used on Syria with Israel and convince its alley ( Israel) to withdraw its forces from the occupied lands."

News reports and witnesses in Beirut stressed they saw part of the Syrian forces evacuating their positions especially in Daher al-Baidar in Mount of Lebanon, Tripoli, and Batroun.

Lebanese military officials announced earlier that the Syrian forces will evacuate their positions in the north and central of Lebanon with the fall of march 23 in a withdrawal of two phases, while one official in Damascus said that the withdrawal also includes the intelligence.

Previous Stories:
  Presidents al-Assad, Lahoud minutes; Khouri's statement   (3/8/2005)
  Assafir: Former lebanese premier stresses Syria's importance to Lebanon   (3/8/2005)
  Al-Assad's speech before the People's Assembly   (3/7/2005)

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