[TexKat]

A Syrian soldier grabs his rifle before pointing it to prevent pictures from being taken as they pack equipment on a loaded army truck during a redeployment of troops near the village of Stur, in the central mountains east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 7, 2005. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Syrian Troops Begin Pullback in Lebanon

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer

MDEIREJ, Lebanon - Syrian soldiers loaded trucks with furniture and other supplies and drove east from the Lebanese mountain posts they have held for decades, the first signs of a redeployment to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley announced Monday. But no deadline was set for their complete withdrawal, and Washington rejected the pullback as insufficient.

Lacking a timeline, the plan also was unlikely to satisfy the Lebanese opposition and the international community, which have demanded that all 14,000 Syrian soldiers leave the country.

More than 70,000 Lebanese shouting "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" thronged Beirut in the biggest demonstration yet of anti-Syria anger that has fueled recent street protests. The demonstrators waved Lebanon's cedar-tree flag and thundered, "Syria out!"

"Yes, for withdrawal to the Bekaa, but, yes, first to the full withdrawal behind the Lebanese-Syrian border," opposition lawmaker Walid Eido told the protesters.

The demonstrators marched to the site of a Feb. 14 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and touched off the angry but peaceful street protests that drove Lebanon's pro-Syrian government to resign a week ago. Many Lebanese accuse the Syrian government and their former government of responsibility for Hariri's death; both deny any involvement.

Earlier Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Lebanese counterpart, Emile Lahoud, met in Syria's capital, Damascus, to outline plans for shifting Syrian troops closer to the border by the end of March. But they were vague on the timing of a complete withdrawal from Lebanon.

Foes of the Syrian presence are calling for demonstrations to continue. One group raised a banner Monday reading read, "Today we have one target: To liberate our land."

But in a sign of the divisions in Lebanon, the militant Islamic group Hezbollah urged a counterdemonstration Tuesday to show loyalty to Syria and denounce international interference.

Syria has had troops here since 1976, when they were sent as peacekeepers during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. When the war ended, the troops remained and Syria has dominated Lebanon's politics since.

The United States, France, Russia, Germany and the U.N. Security Council have firmly demanded that Syria withdraw all the troops and stop interfering in the affairs of its smaller neighbor. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder issued a joint statement Monday calling for a full pullout "as soon as possible."

President Bush telephoned Chirac on a flight to Pittsburgh and thanked him for the joint statement. "Both leaders are committed to a sovereign and independent Lebanon and they agreed to keep in close communications on the matter," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said.

Duffy said Bush also called Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah to "discuss regional issues and to thank him for his personal efforts to promote stability in Lebanon."

Washington wants a full withdrawal of Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents before Lebanese parliamentary elections expected in April and May.

"We stand with the Lebanese people, and the Lebanese people, I think, are speaking very clearly," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "They want a future that is sovereign, independent and free from outside influence and intimidation."

McClellan called the troop redeployment announced Monday "a half measure."

Assad and Lahoud said Syrian troops will first pull back from northern and central Lebanon to the east, near Syria's border. Then, military officers from both countries will have a month to decide how many Syrian troops should stay in the Bekaa Valley and how long.

After a negotiated time frame, the two governments will "agree to complete the withdrawal of the remaining forces," the announcement said.

In Washington, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, told CNN that Syria would withdraw all its troops within a few months.

"We entered Lebanon to end a bloody civil war," Moustapha said. "Now we are withdrawing in compliance with international law. We are giving a good example to the rest of the Middle East."

A U.N. Security Council resolution in September called on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, stop influencing politics here and allow Lebanon to hold a presidential election as scheduled.

The statement issued by Assad and Lahoud said they respected all U.N. resolutions, but added that all "should be implemented without double standard," an apparent reference to U.N. resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian and Syrian lands occupied since 1967.

In the hours after the Syrian and Lebanese leaders met, a scattered movement of Syrian army vehicles began in central Lebanon.

Up to 15 Syrian trucks — carrying equipment, ammunition, weapons, mattresses, personal belongings, one towing a bulldozer, another towing a generator — were seen driving up the snaking highway through the mountains toward the Bekaa Valley. Crews repaired two trucks that broke down on the side of the road.

A jeep carrying a general climbed the road toward the Dahr El-Baidar mountain pass. Five trucks apparently carrying equipment covered by sheets crossed into Syria at sundown at the border point of Masnaa. Twelve empty trucks entered from Syria, apparently to pick up soldiers and equipment.

Syrian troops in northern Lebanon showed no signs of any movement.

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Associated Press writers Sam F. Ghattas and Zeina Karam in Beirut and Bassem Mroue in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

[TexKat]

Palestinian police officers march during a training session in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem Monday March 7, 2005. Despite an attack by Palestinian militants that wounded two Israeli border police in the southern West Bank town of Hebron Monday, both sides said progress has been made on transferring West Bank cities to Palestinian security control, after weeks of deadlock over whether Israel would remove army roadblocks outside the towns as part of such a pullback. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

Palestinians to Control West Bank Town

Mon Mar 7,10:28 PM ET Middle East - AP

By ABED KHABEISA, Associated Press Writer

TULKAREM, West Bank - Marching in formation and jumping through flaming hoops, Palestinian forces prepared Monday to assume control in Tulkarem, the first of five West Bank towns to be handed over by Israel as part of a truce to end four years of bloodshed.

The handover, which could take place as soon as Tuesday, is an important test for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. A strong performance by Palestinian police could lead to further progress. But failure to rein in militants could freeze the rapprochement.

In a setback for peace efforts, Palestinian militants wounded two Israeli border policemen, one seriously, in a shooting attack on a military post in the West Bank city of Hebron. The shooting took place near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hebron has been a flashpoint of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. A small community of Israeli settlers lives in the city center under heavy guard.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the shooting as an attack on Jews' freedom of religion.

"This attack again underscores Israel's unequivocal stand that in order to end terrorism, we must fight a determined battle against the terrorists, those who dispatch them and those who finance them," Sharon told lawmakers from his Likud Party. "Jews will continue to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and to live there."

Since Sharon and Abbas declared an end to violence at a Feb. 8 summit, there has been a drop in fighting. But sporadic violence has persisted.

In the most serious attack, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub Feb. 25. The assailant, dispatched by the Islamic Jihad group, came from a village near Tulkarem. That bombing prompted Israel to freeze the planned security handover in the West Bank.

Israeli and Palestinian military officials resumed negotiations late Sunday, and both sides said they expected a deal over Tulkarem in the near future.

Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz were to meet Tuesday to wrap up the deal, Israeli officials said.

With negotiations in the final stages, Palestinian forces in Tulkarem stepped up preparations for the handover. Dozens of troops in military fatigues marched in formation and conducted calisthenic drills and martial-arts exercises at an abandoned dirt lot.

At one point, the soldiers formed a human pyramid and cried out "Jerusalem is ours!" Later, the soldiers sprinted and jumped headfirst through a smoldering hoop lined with a flaming cloth.

Elsewhere in town, camouflage troops congregated on a street corner, while blue-uniformed police patrolled the streets and directed traffic.

Tulkarem Gov. Izzedine al-Sharif said 2,500 Palestinian police are to be posted in the town and the main goals would be "to maintain security and law, to prevent any attacks against Israeli targets." He said the police are ready for their mission. "We are preparing many measures," he said, "like setting up permanent and mobile checkpoints."

Over the weekend, Abbas said his forces could do nothing to restore order and rein in militants until Israel allows Palestinian police to deploy in West Bank towns.

Giora Eiland, Sharon's national security adviser, told The Associated Press that Israel is concerned that Palestinian militant groups have taken advantage of the recent lull in fighting to regroup.

He said Israel has "reservations" about the effectiveness of the Palestinian exercises but added that "the training, of course, is up to them."

Other Israeli security officials said the presence of even poorly trained Palestinian forces is preferable to the virtual power vacuum currently in the area.

Tulkarem is on the 1949 cease-fire line that separates Israel from the West Bank at Israel's narrowest point, about 10 miles from the Israeli city of Netanya on the Mediterranean Sea. Netanya was the target of many suicide bombers before Israel built the section of its separation barrier that now blocks Tulkarem from three sides.

Much of the negotiations have focused on whether Israel would remove army roadblocks. The Palestinians have insisted on the removal of roadblocks. Israel insists they are necessary to stop attackers.

Al-Sharif said Israel had agreed to remove a main checkpoint on the road linking Tulkarem to Nablus. Israel will retain a roadblock south of the town, he said.

Also Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II told Channel Two TV he would work to update a 2002 Arab peace offer to take into account Israel's concerns. The plan offered Israel recognition from the Arab world as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians that would include withdrawal from all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights, with an agreed solution for Palestinian refugees. Israel objected to the concept of a total withdrawal and cast doubts on the sincerity of the offer.

[TexKat]

Bulgaria Blames U.S. Troops for Fatal Iraq Shooting

By Michael Winfrey

SOFIA (Reuters) - U.S. ally Bulgaria blamed U.S. troops on Monday for the fatal shooting of one of its soldiers in Iraq and demanded punishment of those responsible.

A Bulgarian inquiry into the shooting last Friday found that soldier Gurdi Gurdev -- Bulgaria's eighth casualty since the start of the war in March 2003 -- was almost certainly killed by "friendly fire" from nearby U.S. forces.

On the same day, U.S. soldiers shot dead an Italian secret service agent as he was taking freed hostage journalist Giuliana Sgrena to safety.

Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said Gurdev was killed when his unit shot warning rounds in an attempt to halt an Iraqi vehicle and then came under heavy fire.

"Someone started shooting at our patrol from the west, and in the same direction, 150 meters away, there was a unit from the U.S. Army," Svinarov told a news conference.

"The result (of the investigation) gives us enough grounds to believe the death of rifleman Gurdi Gurdev was caused by friendly fire."

Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and President Georgi Parvanov summoned the U.S. ambassador in Sofia, and Parvanov later criticized U.S.-led operations as badly coordinated.

"This is a grave incident, and the confirmation of the facts prompts the conclusion that there are problems in the coordination and operational interaction among the allies," the president said in a statement.

"Bulgaria has undertaken a thorough investigation and will demand punishment for the guilty," the statement said.

Bulgarian Army Chief of Staff Nikola Kolev sent a letter to U.S. military chiefs asking for an investigation to clarify what happened and prevent similar incidents in the future, Svinarov said.

Bulgaria, which joined NATO last year and is an accession candidate for the European Union, has a 430-strong peacekeeping battalion stationed in the Iraqi town of Diwaniya.

Saxe-Coburg's government is one of the United States' staunchest allies, but its military presence in Iraq is unpopular among the Balkan state's 8 million people. Analysts say it could play a role in summer parliamentary elections.

The opposition Socialists have a wide lead over Saxe-Coburg's National Movement for Simeon II party and have promised to withdraw Bulgaria's troops from Iraq if it wins the ballot and leads the next government.

(Additional reporting by Kremena Miteva)