UN Security Council renews its call for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon

The UN Security Council has called on Syria to implement its earlier resolution issued on September 2nd, demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon.

In an official statement, the UN Security Council stressed its total support for Lebanon's unity and political sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders. It expressed its concern over non responding to the demands stated in UN resolution 1559 -- according to the recent report by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan -- and calls immediately on all sides concerned to fully implement all demands stated in the said resolution.

The statement calls on Annan to submit periodical bi-annual reports on the extent of progress Syria achieved in this regard.

News reports in New York said that the UN Security Council gave up issuing a resolution because it did not get the nine votes necessary for that and chose to issue an official statement after certain sides in the council agreed on making certain amendments in the items stated in the submitted draft resolution, including extending the period of the regular reports submitted by Annan from three to 6 months, noting that the statement does not carry the same legal weight of the UN security council resolutions which are obligatory to the UN Security Council member states.

France and the US had submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council last week following the report issued by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan on Syria's non- abidance to UN resolution 1559 which asks for putting an end to its intervention in the Lebanese internal affairs.

After the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution 1559 in September, the Lebanese parliament approved an amendment in the constitution allowing for extending President Lahoud's term of office for three years.