Lebanon’s president slams U.S. official, defends Syria

2/11/2005 6:00:00 PM GMT

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud slammed a top U.S. State Department official on Friday and defended Syria’s military presence in his country, amid growing U.S. pressure on Damascus to withdraw its forces from its neighbor.

On Thursday, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield warned that Syria’s relations with the U.S. would deteriorate unless Damascus complied with the UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and pulled out its 14,000 troops from Lebanon.

“Mr. Satterfield wants the Lebanese army to stab Syria in the back, which we refuse to do, because it’s thanks to Syria that the Lebanese army recovered,” after the 1975-90 civil war in Lebanon, said a statement from Lahoud’s office.

“The United States refused even to give it heavy machine guns.

“Mr. Satterfield has no right to interfere in domestic Lebanese matters and give us lessons in democracy, advice and warnings.

“He would have done better to criticize himself because he is one of those responsible for the problems facing his country,” the statement added.

Satterfield also claimed that a full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon will not destabilize Lebanon.

“It is surprising that someone like President Lahoud doubts the capabilities of the Lebanese army,” he said.

The U.S. official also denied the Syrian and Lebanese assertions that the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms are Lebanese and therefore fall under UN Resolution 425.

Last week, Lahoud said that Lebanon considers Syria a factor of stability in the region.

"Syrian-Lebanese coordination came in the interest of the two sisterly countries and both of them adopted measures that were based on that interest," he said.