Lahoud: agreement with Syria on withdrawal
"Syrian-Lebanese leaderships agreed on implementing a series of military measures related to Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon within the framework of the Taif Accord," Lebanese president Emile Lahoud said on Sunday.
The Lebanese president during a meeting with UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, stressed that the Syrian troops will withdraw to the Bekaa region as a first stage then a final date of the second withdrawal will be determined by the two states' governments and armies.
"Efforts will be geared in order to regain security and political stability for Lebanon," Lahoud said, pointing out that this will go on, simultaneously, with intensifying the investigations of Hariri's assassination in cooperation with international committee of inquiry.
Lahoud expressed commitment to the establishment of Lebanese parliamentary elections within an honest, free and democratic atmosphere.
He also underlined Lebanon's respect for UN resolutions and the international legitimacy's role in achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
For his part, Larsen described his talks with President Lahoud as "good and fruitful" adding that these talks focused on all issues related to the UN 1559 resolution.
"We also discussed results of my talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regarding Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon and agreed on working together in order to achieve our goals," Larsen added.
Meantime, "Al-Taif Accord is the mechanism which is going to be adopted regarding the Syrian troops' withdrawal from Lebanon," a senior Lebanese official said on Sunday.
"Syrian-Lebanese military committee will hold a meeting soon and decide where and when the withdrawal will be defined," Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said during a meeting with Roed-Larsen.
The minister stressed that all Lebanese people agreed on protecting the resistance and supporting it in order to defend the Lebanese land and face the Israeli continued aggressions.
"We explained our attitude to Mr. Larsen: there are no militias in Lebanon, what we have is a resistance supported by all Lebanese people," Hammoud said, asserting Lebanon's commitment to the international legitimacy and its permanent respect of the UN resolution.
Regarding the Palestinian issue Hammoud underlined that the matter is connected by finding a just and comprehensive solution in the Middle East based on the international legitimacy particularly the UN resolution No. 194 and Beirut summit's initiative.
For his part Larsen said that his mission in Beirut is for the implementation of the UN 1559 resolution.
"We have reached a good, friendly and very frank agreement regarding implementation of the resolution" he added.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabeh Berri discussed with Larsen the recent developments on the Lebanese arena.
Talks during the meeting dealt with the Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council's first step represented by withdrawal of the Syrian troops to al-Bekaa region.