Posted on 03/07/2005 11:18:35 PM PST by familyop
Dissatisfied with Syria's pledge to redeploy its troops in Lebanon, France and the United States stepped up pressure on Damascus for a quick and complete withdrawal.
President Jacques Chirac of France and US President George W. Bush agreed on Monday on "their determination to obtain the full and complete implementation of (UN) resolution 1559" on the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, Chirac's office said.
Bush called Chirac on Monday evening to discuss the situation in Lebanon following the statements of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the redeployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon, said Chirac's spokesperson, Jerome Bonnafont.
Syria on Monday pledged to pull back its troops in Lebanon towards the eastern Bekaa Valley by the end of March, but stopped short of announcing the rapid withdrawal demanded by the international community.
In a joint statement issued after a summit in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese counterpart, Emile Lahoud, did not offer a timetable on the next phase after the forces are pulled back to the Bekaa.
US demands "action, not words"
The United States was quick to express its displeasure at the results of the meeting, with spokesperson Scott McClellan saying "we need to see by action, not words" from Damascus.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also spoke on Monday with the European Union's top foreign policy representative Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier about "how we needed to see the Security Council resolution fully implemented" and "about how we needed to continue our discussions of how the international community can help with that", the department's spokesperson Richard Boucher told journalists.
France and the United States were the two countries behind the adoption last September of the resolution, which calls for an immediate and complete pullout of Syrian troops, following a deployment of almost three decades.
Syria is under intense pressure to end its political and military grip on Lebanon after Damascus first sent in troops in 1976 shortly after the start of the country's devastating civil war, which ended in 1990.
While Assad did not publicly commit to a full withdrawal, other officials have been saying Syria plans to make a complete pullout.
The Syrians are going to pull an "Arab".
also have Syria-Lebanon communique: Full text
Includes some time tables, such as they are,.
Thanks! Historical background material is important.
...my mistake in assuming about history, and thanks again. The news in your post is important news that we should see. Item 1-B is one part that's a little worrisome to me.
The key to freeing Lebanon, a defacto puppet state of Syria, is rooting out the numerous terrorist groups based in Lebanon, lead by the heavily armed Hezbollah. See this background piece on all of the terrorist groups operating in Lebanon, all under the approving eye of Syria, and by extension Iran. http://cfrterrorism.org/havens/lebanon_print.html
I am a pessimist on whether Lebanon can remake itself into the cosmopolitan society that existed prior the 1975 civil war, which had close ties to the USA and Europe. Before conditions exist to allow that to happen it needs to cleanse the country of the numerous terrorist groups that operate there, and their counterparts in Syria and beyond. The removal of Syria's army and the bulk of its intelligence operation would be a good first step in that direction, as well as the complete isolation of Syria. I would also sure like to see what leftovers from the regime of Sadam Hussein are hidden in the Bekaa valley, an area the Syrians & Hezbollah are not likely to give up without a fight.
Bush III in '08
gpapa
>> "The "Half-Syrian Withdrawal" sounds like a gymnastics maneuver." <<
It sounds to me, like Polish birth control. :-)
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