Syrian leader expected to redeploy troops
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-04 21:23

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syrian President Bashar Assad will address his country's parliament on Saturday and was expected to announce a redeployment of troops to eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, a Lebanese politician said Friday.

The speech to the People's Assembly had not been previously scheduled and comes as Damascus is under intense pressure from Arab nations and the international community to withdraw its 15,000 troops from Lebanon. But the pullback to positions near the Syrian border appeared to fall short of the total withdrawal demanded by the United States and key Arab countries.

US President Bush said Syria must pull all of its troops out of Lebanon by May so that it can have free elections. Earlier this week Bush demanded that Syria withdraw but he didn't specify a timeframe.

Bush told the paper there was no threat of military action.

Assad will outline "a mechanism for the practical implementation of the Taif Accord," the 1989 agreement that called for a pullback to the border and eventual withdrawal, a former Lebanese cabinet minister told The Associated Press on Friday.

"It will be a Syrian withdrawal according to the Taif agreement — a redeployment to the Bekaa (Valley) region" of eastern Lebanon, said the former minister, who has close ties to Syrian and other Arab governments. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Assad will seek to reassure the Lebanese, the Syrians and other Arabs and "take steps in coordination with the Lebanese government," he said.

The official Syrian news agency said only that Assad's address will "deal with current political developments."

Syria announced last week that it is committed to a pullout in line with the Taif Accord but has not announced a timeframe for beginning the redeployment. Arab leaders, impatient with the delays, have been increasingly pressing Damascus to withdraw completely and do it fast.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah told Assad in talks Thursday that his country wants Syria to start soon on a complete pullout from Lebanon and Saudi leaders warned the Syrian leader that, if not, their relations will suffer, a Saudi offical said on condition of anonymity. Assad replied only that he would consider a partial withdrawal in the coming weeks, the official said.

Syria's official news agency SANA on Friday dismissed the Saudi official's account of the meeting, saying it lacked credibility.

"The failure to mention the name of the Saudi official points to a lack of credibility of the report's content," SANA said. It noted an official Saudi statement saying the talks were "constructive and fruitful" and that the two countries discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation. SANA also said late Thursday that "points of view were identical" in the talks.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also ruled out any Western military action against Syria but said there had been informal discussions in the United Nations Security Council about deploying peacekeeping forces in Lebanon to cover the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

"There are already some U.N. peacekeeping forces in the south of Lebanon. It is possible that as part of a phased withdrawal from the Lebanon by Syria — it would have to be swift, but obviously phased so you don't leave a mess — there could be some more peacekeeping troops," Straw said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"I mean, that has been talked about but in an informal, not a formal, way" in the Security Council, Straw said.

Pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops has increased since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a killing that plunged Lebanon into political turmoil and brought Syria widespread condemnation.

Assad was reportedly pressed by Saudi Arabia to begin the withdrawal or face deeper isolation when he visited Riyadh on Thursday, but SANA dismissed the report that also said Assad might try for a partial withdrawal before an Arab summit scheduled for later this month.

Syria has so far resisted Arab pressure to withdraw, saying in behind-the-scenes diplomacy in recent days that it wants to keep 3,000 troops and early-warning stations in Lebanon, according to an Arab diplomat in Cairo, Egypt. The Syrian army already operates radar stations in Dahr el-Baidar, on mountain tops bordering Syria. Israeli warplanes have attacked the sites in the past.

Damascus keeps 15,000 troops in Lebanon. Domestic calls in Lebanon — thousands of people have demonstrated in recent days in Beirut against Syria and forced the pro-Syrian Lebanese government to step down — and international demands led by Bush, France's Jacques Chirac and even Russia, Syria's close friend, for Syria to leave Lebanon have dramatically increased.

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