Syria to pull troops back from Lebanon

DAMASCUS - Syria will gradually start to pull its troops out of Lebanon, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said.

However, he said the withdrawal from its tiny neighbour would not mean the absence of a Syrian role there.

Under growing Lebanese, Arab and international pressure to quit Lebanon, Assad told parliament on Saturday local time that Syrian troops would initially pullback to the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon and then to the border area.

"By this measure Syria would have fulfilled its commitment towards the Taif Accord and implemented (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559," he said.

The Taif Accord ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, while Resolution 1559, adopted last September, calls for foreign troops to quit Lebanon.

But Assad said Syria, which first deployed troops in Lebanon in 1976, would not relinquish its role in the country.

"Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon does not mean the absence of Syria's role (in Lebanon)," Assad said. "Syria's strength and its role in Lebanon is not dependent on the presence of its forces in Lebanon."

Assad's announcement would appear to fall short of meeting demands by US President George W. Bush and Resolution 1559 that Syria withdraw completely from Lebanon.

Earlier in his weekly radio address, Bush rejected Syrian plans for a partial pullout of troops from Lebanon, saying a US and French-backed UN Security Council resolution demands that "all foreign forces be withdrawn".

"A Syrian withdrawal of all its military and intelligence personnel would help ensure that the Lebanese elections occur as scheduled in the spring and that they will be free and fair," he said.

Assad said he agreed with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud to hold a joint meeting next week to approve the withdrawal plan.

Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since intervening in its civil war in the 1970s but criticism has mounted since a former Lebanese prime minister was assassinated last month. Syria has about 14,000 troops in Lebanon.

Many Lebanese blame Rafik al-Hariri's assassination on Syria, which denied involvement in the Beirut bombing.

Lebanese commandos deployed briefly around the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence service in Beirut on Saturday before pulling out to a nearby Lebanese army barracks, witnesses said. Syrian troops and intelligence officers remained in the headquarters, the witnesses said.

The Syrian intelligence service has been under intense fire from Lebanon's opposition figures who accused its officers of running the country.

Thousands of Syrians gathered outside parliament in Damascus on Saturday to back Assad before and during his speech.

"One, one, one, Lebanon and Syria are one," several thousand Syrians, some carrying pictures of Assad and Syrian flags, chanted outside parliament in the build-up to the address.

"Yes for wise decisions, no for foreign intervention," one of the placards carried by the crowd said. "We demand immediate (Israeli) withdrawal from Golan (Heights)," another said.

"I'm here to say that we don't want any foreign intervention. We and Lebanon can resolve any matter over the (negotiation) table," said Ismail al-Halabi, a 44-year-old former soldier who served in Lebanon.

Syria has carried out five redeployments since 2000, pulling some forces to the Bekaa and some back to Syria, but has maintained forces in and around Beirut and in northern Lebanon.

Damascus has viewed Lebanon as a strategic asset and key economic outlet for decades. Nationalists in Damascus have traditionally seen Lebanon as a rightful part of Syria sliced off by French-British colonial machinations.

Lebanese opposition figures cautiously welcomed the expected withdrawal, calling it a step in the right direction, but said like Bush they hoped the pullback would include the Syrian intelligence services active in Lebanon.

Hundreds of demonstrators have kept up daily protests in central Beirut against Syrian influence.

- REUTERS