UN, US continue pressures on Syria

While international pressures are continuous led by the USA on Syria, the UN denied news which stated that the UN secretary general Kofi Annan called for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon before April and that he had warned Damascus that arrangements might be taken by the UN Security Council if this will not take place.

The spokesman for Annan said that the UN secretary general did not define a period for the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon, nor talked about supporting the imposition of sanctions if the withdrawal will not take place.

On the other hand, an international team including UN experts starts on Friday a mission in Beirut in order to follow up results and steps of investigations pertinent to the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.

The spokeswoman for the UN expressed her hope that the Lebanese authorities will respond with UN experts team which arrived in Beirut on late Thursday evening.