Syrian troops start withdrawing from Lebanon

9/23/2004 1:40:00 PM GMT

Syrian troops have started withdrawing from Lebanon, two days after Damascus began moving troops from positions around Beirut as part of a "major redeployment".

A convoy of trucks and about 60 buses carrying Syrian soldiers crossed the border at dawn, Lebanese police said, adding that there was only one piece of heavy artillery, but no tanks.

The move came three weeks after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding Syria to pullout its forces from Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's defense minister has said that Syria will pull out all its troops only when the Arab-Israeli conflict ends.

Lebanese military sources had said that over 3,000 troops were being moved from positions around Beirut.

Also officials said Syrian soldiers began evacuating hilltop positions in the coastal towns of Aramoun, Chuweifat, Damour, Doha and Khaldeh, south of Beirut on Tuesday.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is scheduled to submit a report to the Security Council on compliance with the U.S., French-backed resolution in two weeks' time.

Resolution 1559 called for Lebanon's political sovereignty to be respected and demanded the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country, a demand that was echoed last week by U.S. envoy William Burns.

Lebanon had rejected the resolution, considering it as interference in its internal affairs and said that its close relations with Syria would not change.

Syria sent its army into Lebanon in 1976 at the beginning of the civil war there. It had made four previous attempts to redeploy its troops in Lebanon since 2001.

Skepticism

Skeptics of Syria's presence in Lebanon have claimed that the redeployment is a sham aimed at easing international pressure.

On the other hand, Lebanese and Syrian officials were keen to show that the withdrawal was a bilateral agreement between the two countries, rather than a move to relieve the international pressure.

Both countries have related the resolution’s demand for Syrian forces to leave Lebanon to previous UN resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw from Arab territories, including the Golan Heights which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Mid East war.

When the U.S. State Department deputy spokesman, Adam Ereli, was asked about the implications of the redeployment, he said: "We remain deeply concerned about Syrian intervention in Lebanon and reiterate that, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1559, Syria withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon."

Also Israeli government officials were waiting for an assurance that the move would be more serious.

A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir, said; "I hope that Syria is not engaging in a public relations exercise under international pressure,"

"The Syrians have to ... remove all troops from Lebanon so that it is sovereign." He added.