Larsen expects positions evacuated by the Syrian army in Beirut
Lebanon-UN, Politics, 4/5/2005

In his second day of visiting Lebanon, the UN special envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen inspected on Tuesday positions evacuated recently by the Syrian forces.

Sources close to Larsen said he will inspect the positions of former Syrian forces in Beirut following an expected visit with the defense minister in the resigned government Abdul Rahim Murad and the commander of the army Maj. Gen. Michael Suleiman.

Larsen's tour, together with his team, to the former positions of the Syrian army and the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence departments, came after the consent of the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud to form a UN team to investigate that the Syrian withdrawal will be complete.

Syria has also approved this proposal.

The Syrian and Lebanese officials agreed to complete the withdrawal from Lebanon by the end of the current month to that the second and last phase of withdrawal to start on Thursday ( tomorrow) to include 8,000 soldiers, who are the left of the Syrian forces in Lebanon. A measure Damascus vowed to complete on Sunday for the UN envoy.

During his meeting with the Lebanese president on Monday, Larsen stressed the need that the Lebanese elections will be made at their dew time because this is necessary for the stability of Lebanon.

Larsen also said that he tackled the issue of Hizbullah who refused to dismantle his weapons before the liberation of Shebaa farms. These farms which both Syrian and Lebanese foreign ministers confirmed no differences over it, while the UN considered it as a Syrian territory.

The UN envoy is due to meet today with several Lebanese opposition members after he had met on Monday evening with the opposition Druze Parliamentarian Walid Junblat.

Meantime, a UN official source in Beirut denied categorically any likely meeting between Larsen and the secretary general of the Lebanese Hizbullah Party secretary general Sheikh Hassan Nasrullah.

Previous Stories:
  On Larsen's missions to Lebanon   (4/2/2005)
  UN Security Council discusses an international investigation on the assassination of Hariri   (4/1/2005)
  Lebanese envoy to the UN Security Council   (3/28/2005)

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