A Lebanese protester flahses the V-sign next to a portrait of slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut, as Syrian military intelligence units began pulling out.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
Posted on 03/15/2005 11:41:52 AM PST by NYer
BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria took a further step toward ending its military presence in Lebanon as it began to dismantle its intelligence apparatus here in a move that drew a guarded welcome from the United States.
The move came a day after close to a million people rallied in central Beirut in response to a call by the opposition to add punch to its call for a complete and expeditious Syrian military pullout.
Prime Minister-designate Omar Karameh, a Syrian sympathizer, was meanwhile struggling to form a new government of national unity in the face of stiff demands from an energized opposition in exchange for its participation.
From the early hours of Tuesday members of Syrian military intelligence units were seen evacuating positions in Beirut in what appeared to be a move by Damascus to end its near-30-year military presence in Lebanon once and for all.
The dismantling of four offices in the capital also followed a weekend commitment by Assad to a UN envoy to call home all his troops and intelligence operatives.
Syria until recently had 14,000 troops in Lebanon but has begun carrying out a redeployment, with forces moving to the east of the country on their way home across the border.
In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States saw "some positive steps" toward a Syrian pullout but would keep the pressure on Damascus for a total departure before May parliamentary elections in Lebanon.
"There have been some signs that are encouraging, but we need to see by their actions, and not their words, a complete withdrawal," McClellan said.
A deeply divided Lebanon woke up Tuesday to the task of securing a measure of political unity in the wake of huge demonstrations by both the opposition and pro-Syrian forces.
Monday's big rally eclipsed militant gatherings of pro-Syrian parties on Sunday and last Tuesday, called by the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah, and served to highlight the political fissures in Lebanon.
The catalyst for the latest turmoil was the assassination February 14 of former premier Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed here on Syria despite denials from Damascus.
The killing also had political ramifications, with Karameh resigning February 28 in the face of public fury only to be called back to the premiership by President Emile Lahoud.
Karameh began consultations Tuesday with opposition MPs in his quest for a government of national unity, a bid so far rejected by his opponents.
"We're calling for a transition government that will oversee the total pullout of Syrian military and intelligence units and free legislative elections," opposition MP Fares Souaid told AFP.
"If our demands are not met, there is no question of our participating in the government. Monday's demonstration showed that the majority of the country is with the opposition."
Karameh's opponents are also pressing for an international probe into Hariri's assassination and the dismissal of the public prosecutor along with the heads of Lebanon's six security services.
But an operational consensus here will require an understanding with Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah. They are the principal actors behind a movement that opposes foreign pressure to oust the Syrians and is sympathetic to the role Syria has played in Lebanon.
Updated schedule of His Beatitude Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir
Tuesday, March 15, 2005:
Private conferral of honorary Doctorate Degree at Catholic University of America;
Meeting with USCCB President and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick;
Wednesday, March 16, 2005:
Private meeting with President George W. Bush;
Private reception with Senators and Congressmen at Capitol Hill;
Press conference;
Private evening reception at the Embassy of Lebanon;
Thursday, March 17, 2005:
Morning interview with CNN;
6:00 p.m. - Eucharistic Liturgy at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception;
9:00 p.m. - Reception at Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
Filed under:
— HUMAN TSUNAMI SWEEPS SLATE CLEANThe past month has certainly been amazing. Following the death of Rafiq Hariri, Lebanese broke out in the streets and protested, eventually forcing their government to resign. Syrian loyalists struck back by staging a hoax rally large enough to break the momentum and dishearten even some of freedom’s most ardent supporters. Everyone, however, except the Lebanese. In a moment truly reminiscient of 1776, the people came together in numbers two and a half times that of their would-be oppressors.
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See link for the rest.
Assad is better than his dad.
"Karami began his consultations with parliament bloc leaders to form a national unity government on Tuesday. He is on record that he would quit if the opposition remains adamant about rejecting his premiership."
"The opposition has declared it would ask Karami to pledge to sack State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum plus the six commanding generals of Lebanon’s principal intelligence and security services as a precondition to support or join his new government."
LOL, fat chance that Karami is going to get rid of all these goons. I noticed signs calling for this in yesterday's rally, and signs calling for Lahoud to get out as well.
"This demand is strongly opposed by President Lahoud, who had handpicked all seven men to their posts and defended them against opposition charges that they had created a “police state of secret service phantoms” during the past six years of a steady drift into a reign of terror in the country."
It will be VERY interesting to see what that UN report says (yeah, I know, it's a UN report, yawn) but so far the "hints" about it claim that the UN is going to show Syria and ProSyria Lebanonese government folks involved with Hariri's death. That will just be more fuel to the fire for FReedom!
Morning news in Beirut (GMT +2): Karami waits for the return of Sfeir to quit. Next in line is the pro-syrian minister Murad.
The opposition is inflexible in its demands and Karami is not able to 'deliver'.
More and more christian MP's are asking the departure of Lahoud.
It is the same ruling Baas party, the same old guard, the same nomenklatura. Only the face of the president has changed, less the ability to deceipt.
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