Syrian-Lebanese relations (With Photos)

BEIRUT, March 5th (Reuters) - Syria has been under intense pressure to relinquish its political and military grip on Lebanon and on President Bashar al-Assad announced a gradual Syrian troop pull back from Lebanon.

Britain and France carved out modern-day Syria and Lebanon from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after World War One, in a division never fully recognised by some Arab nationalists in both countries. The French aimed to create a state led by Christians previously under Muslim rule but expanded its borders in 1920 to include many Muslim-populated areas.

Lebanon won full independence from mandate power France in 1943 and Syria in 1946. Both fought the new state of Israel in 1948-49 and took in many Palestinian refugees.

Lebanon refused to join Syria's 1958 union with Egypt. Arab nationalist propaganda from Cairo and Damascus demanded the return to Syria of mainly Muslim parts of Lebanon. Disorder in Lebanon, where complex tensions had set pro-Western Christians against Arab nationalist Muslims, led to U.S. military intervention in 1958 to support President Camille Chamoun.

Relations worsened in the late 1960s due to Syrian and Egyptian support for Palestinian guerrillas hostile to the Beirut government. Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who took power in 1970, curbed the guerrillas in Syria. Most of those who fled fighting with the Jordanian army in 1970-71 ended up in Lebanon.

Sectarian tensions in Lebanon, fuelled by Palestinian guerrilla activity, erupted into civil war in April 1975. Yasser Arafat's PLO, fighting alongside mainly Muslim and leftist Lebanese factions against rightwing Christian militias, feared Assad's aim was to control the Palestinians. Syrian troops intervened in June 1976 to prevent a Christian defeat. In October that year, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt set up a 30,000-strong Arab force to restore peace. The mainly Syrian force deployed across Lebanon, but not in the south due to Israeli opposition.

Israel invaded south Lebanon in 1978 and set up an occupation zone. It mounted a full-scale invasion in 1982, forcing Syrian troops to withdraw to the Bekaa Valley, seizing Beirut and helping to install its Christian allies in power.

Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement with Israel in 1983 in the teeth of Syrian opposition. Shi'ite Muslim suicide bombers killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French paratroopers in October 1983, prompting multinational forces to leave.

Pro-Syrian Muslim militias seized West Beirut in February 1984, the army split and President Amin Gemayel abrogated the peace accord with Israel two months later under Syrian pressure.

Despite Syria's success in foiling U.S. and Israeli plans in Lebanon, successive Syrian-sponsored security plans and political agreements failed to halt fighting between the civil war protagonists or within the rival camps. In 1985, Israel pulled back to a self-declared border security zone in the south.

Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hizbollah guerrillas emerged as Israel's deadliest foes in the south. Syrian forces returned to Beirut in 1987 to stop fighting between Muslim militias.

In 1988 parliament failed to elect a successor to Gemayel, who appointed fiercely anti-Syrian Christian army commander General Michel Aoun to head a military cabinet. During the next two years Aoun's forces battled the Lebanese Forces militia for control of the Christian enclave, while also fighting the Syrians. In August 1990, parliament enacted the Taif Accord, which became Lebanon's new constitution. Syrian forces finally overran Aoun's forces in October 1990. Aoun fled to the French embassy and exile in France. The United States had apparently given Syria a free hand as a reward for its joining the U.S.-led coalition formed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Lebanon held its first postwar election in October 1992 and Rafik al-Hariri, the Sunni Muslim billionaire who sponsored the Taif Conference, became prime minister. He quit in 1998, losing a power struggle with Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud, but returned after winning elections in 2000. Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in May 2000, increasing pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops. Syrian troops left most of the Beirut area in June 2001.

In September 2004, a U.N. Security Council ordered Syria to pull its forces out of Lebanon and stop meddling in its politics. But in line with Syrian wishes, parliament extended Lahoud's term anyway. Hariri resigned in October. He was killed by a powerful bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14th, 2005.

President Bashar al-Assad announced on March 5th that Syria will gradually start to pull its troops out of Lebanon but the withdrawal from its tiny neighbour would not mean the absence of a Syrian role there.

Lebanese special forces soldiers stand on their armored personnal carrier during a security patrol in the Martyrs Square where the opposition protesters hold their daily demonstration against Syria, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday March 6th, 2005.

Lebanese soldiers block the street in front of pro-Syria Lebanese protesters holding posters and chanting slogans in support of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad and Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud Beirut March 6th, 2005. Syria vowed a swift two-phased withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon in what the Lebanese media described on Sunday as a historic move opening a new chapter after 30 years of Syrian domination. Photo by Reuters

A Lebanese family walks past an army truck patrolling a street in Beirut, March 6th, 2005.

Syrian soldiers do maintenance work on an armored cvehicle at a Syrian Army base near the village of Aley, in the central mountains east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 6th, 2005.

Lebanese special forces soldiers ride their armored truck during a patrol in the Martyrs Square where the opposition protesters hold their daily demonstration against Syria in central Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday March 6th, 2005.

Lebanese military personnel patrol a street in Beirut, March 6th, 2005. Syria will start pulling back its forces in Lebanon to the Bekaa valley on Monday, Lebanese Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Mrad said on Sunday. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

In memory of Bashir Gemayel

Syrian Troops to Begin Pullback Monday

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian troops will begin pulling back to the Lebanese border following a Monday meeting of the countries' leaders, Lebanon's defense minister said Sunday.

A day earlier, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced a two-stage pullback of his forces to the Lebanese border, but he failed to address broad international demands that he completely withdraw the 15,000 troops after nearly 30 years in Lebanon.

Assad also did not respond to President Bush's demand on Friday that Syria withdraw all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon before its parliamentary elections in May.

In Beirut, Lebanon Defense Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad said Syrian troops would pull back from Mount Lebanon and northern Lebanon toward the eastern Bekaa Valley closer to the Lebanon-Syria border.

"The Syrian withdrawal will begin Monday directly after the meeting in Damascus of the Syrian and Lebanese leaderships," Murad said.

Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud were to meet in Damascus with other top officials to discuss the details of the two-stage pullback.

The first stage of the pullback would take two or three days, Murad said.

Assad was vague about the pullback, leaving it unclear if Syrian forces would eventually leave Lebanon or remain inside the country near the Syrian frontier. But he said his plan would put Syria in full compliance with international agreements and U.N. demands.

"By carrying out this measure, Syria will have fulfilled requirements of the Taif agreement and implemented U.N. Resolution 1559," the Syrian leader said in a rare address to parliament.

Later Saturday, however, Syrian Immigrant Affairs Minister Buthaina Shaaban indicated Syrian troops would withdraw to within their borders.

"The matter is very clear. When an army withdraws it withdraws to inside the country's border," he told Lebanese television.

The United States issued a strong statement of dissatisfaction with Assad's most recent comments, which came after four weeks of political turmoil in Lebanon set off by the assassination of a popular former prime minister.

"As President Bush said Friday, when the United States and France say withdraw, we mean complete withdrawal — no halfhearted measures," the statement said.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett told "Fox News Sunday" that Assad's comments represented "more kind of these generalities and half-measures."

"We'll continue to make clear that they understand that the international community is not going to stand by and let Assad continue to have these type of half-measures, but to live up to his international demands," Bartlett said.

He also told CNN's "Late Edition" that Syria also must "fully withdraw ... secret services and intelligence officials that really keep the clamp of fear in the Lebanese people."

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom dismissed the Syrian president's speech as failing to meet international requirements, which he said include "a complete withdrawal of all Syrian troops from Lebanon."

Heading for the United States, Shalom said Sunday he would try to rally international support for a full Syrian withdrawal. Shalom was scheduled to meet in Washington this week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Shalom told Israel Radio a Syrian withdrawal would help promote stability and peace efforts in the Middle East.

Syria has kept troops in Lebanon since 1976, when they were sent as peacekeepers during that country's 1975-1990 civil war. When the war ended, the troops remained and Damascus continued to wield decisive influence with Lebanese officials.

The 1989 Arab-brokered Taif Accord called for Syria to move its troops to the Lebanese border and for both countries to then negotiate the withdrawal.

The September U.N. resolution, drafted by the United States and France in September, called on Syria to withdraw forces from Lebanon, stop influencing politics in the country and allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections as scheduled.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Annan would study Assad's comments and noted that a special envoy had been sent to the area to discuss the September resolution.

Assad's speech also came after a week of Arab pressure, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah telling the Syrian leader to remove his forces from Lebanon quickly.

In Saturday's carefully worded address, Assad said, "We would not stay one day if there was Lebanese consensus on the departure of Syria."

"We will withdraw our forces stationed in Lebanon fully to the Bekaa region (in the east) and later to the Lebanese-Syrian border areas," he said.

Assad said that in the last few years Syria has pulled out 60 percent of its forces "voluntarily based upon Syrian will and desire without any pressure."

Thousands of Lebanese have staged almost daily protests since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, which many in Lebanon blame on their pro-Syrian government and its Syrian backers. Both Lebanon and Syria deny involvement.

Hariri, 60, resigned last year amid opposition to a Syrian-backed constitutional amendment enabling his rival, President Emile Lahoud, to extend his term in office.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Lebanese movements loyal to Damascus, rejected international calls for an immediate and full withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

The leaders of Lebanese movements loyal to Damascu hold a meeting in Beirut. (L-R) Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi from the Islamic Brotherhood, Druze leader Talal Arslan and Christian Phalangist leader Karim Pakradouni.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

Pro-Syria Lebanese movements reject calls for swift pullout

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese movements loyal to Damascus, including the powerful Shiite militia Hezbollah, rejected international calls for an immediate and full withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said the groups will demonstrate in Beirut on Tuesday to denounce foreign interventions and to express gratitude to Syria.

He invited opposition groups -- which have maintained protests to demand a Syrian pullout since the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri -- to join the rally.

Opposition groups, which blamed the pro-Syrian regime and Damascus for the assassination that plunged the country into a crisis, plan to stage another demonstration on Monday to mark three weeks since Hariri's killing.

Nasrallah said after a meeting of the movements that they were not in favour of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which called for the pullout of foreign troops as Lebanon was still in a "state of war with the enemy Israel."

"We refuse that the presence of Syrian troops in the Bekaa be subject to (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559," which also demanded the disarming of militias in Lebanon, Nasrallah told reporters.

"It can only be subject to the Taef accord," which stipulates a Syrian pullback into the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon before an agreement by the two states on the duration of the Syrian military presence.

"We have the right to reject the international resolution because it is a blatant interference in our internal affairs and all its clauses are free services to the Israeli enemy," said Nasrallah.

Nasrallah also raised questions as to whether US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield, as well as the US and French ambassadors in Beirut, were "directing the battle" of the Lebanese opposition calling for a full and immediate Syrian pullout.

The sheikh, whose guerrilla movement was instrumental in Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, also expressed confidence that Israel would soon withdraw from the Shebaa Farms border territories claimed by Lebanon.

Hezbollah was theoretically the only militia allowed to retain its arms after the end of the country's 1975-1990 civil war because it was considered a resistance movement.

Nasrallah said "the (Hezbollah) resistance's mission and role is not just for the liberation of the Shebaa Farms, but to join the Lebanese army in defending Lebanon as long as Israel aggresses and violates its sovereignty."

His comments came after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed Saturday to pull back the 14,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon toward the border, in a speech responding to foreign pressure for an end to Syrian interference in Lebanon.

Lebanon's outgoing Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said Sunday that Syria would start the pullback after a Lebanese-Syrian summit due in Damascus on Monday.

"The redeployment to the Bekaa will start after the meeting of the Syrian-Lebanese (supreme) council which should take place on Monday in Damascus," Mrad told reporters.

While Assad's speech was met with whistles by thousands of protestors in downtown Beirut late on Saturday, pro-Syrians mounted counter-demonstrations where they waved his portrait and fired shots in the air.

Leading opposition politician Walid Jumblatt was guarded in his reaction to Assad's speech, but said it was "positive and meets our aspirations".

"I think when President Assad said in front of the Syrian people and the Lebanese people and the world that he will withdraw his troops, I think he was playing on words. We will see. We will monitor the implementation."

Syria has long argued that it needs to retain troops in Lebanon because of Israel's continued occupation of the Golan Heights, seized from Damascus in the 1967 Middle East war.

The troops entered Lebanon in 1976 under an Arab League mandate to try to restore peace during that country's 15-year long civil war which finally ended in 1990 under the Taef agreement.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.