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Syrian forces quit Lebanon after 29 years
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-26 16:18
Syria completes the withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon on Tuesday in line
with a U.N. resolution, ending 29 years of direct involvement in its tiny
neighbor.
The last Syrian soldier will pull out from Lebanon after a military ceremony
in the Riyyak airbase in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a day after Syrian
intelligence quit its headquarters in the town of Anjar, security sources said.
Syrian troops entered in 1976 to try to end Lebanon's civil war which began
in 1975. But it was not until 1990 that the Lebanese war ended, after Syrian
forces fought separately with Muslim and Christians militias, Lebanese army
units, Palestinian guerrillas and the Israeli army.
Syrian
army troops, displaying a picture of President Bashar al-Assad, wave from
a truck driving towards the Lebanese-Syrian Masnaa border, in the Bekaa
valley April 25,
2005.[Reuters] | Pro-Syrian Lebanese officials say 12,000 Syrian soldiers were killed in
Lebanon and many more wounded.
Syrian military and intelligence dominated Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil
war and until a U.N. Security Council resolution last September demanded a total
Syrian withdrawal.
The Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, blamed by
many Lebanese on Damascus, triggered large anti-Syrian protests in Beirut and
piled the pressure on Syria to quit.
Syria's intelligence chief in Lebanon, Rustum Ghazaleh, left for Damascus on
Monday but was to return on Tuesday for the farewell ceremony.
Security sources said only about 200 Syrian soldiers remained in Lebanon, but
they would withdraw after taking part in the ceremony, hours before the United
Nations issues a report on whether Syria is complying with the Security Council
demand.
WASHINGTON SCEPTICAL
But the United States, which led international pressure on Syria to withdraw
from Lebanon, was skeptical.
"It's clear that Syria has been withdrawing its military forces from
Lebanon," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington.
"This process isn't complete either (on) the military forces or the intelligence
assets."
Lebanon's election due in May would test whether Syria still intervened in
the affairs of its smaller neighbor, said one U.S. official, who asked not to be
identified.
Lebanon's new government, led by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, has pledged to
hold free and fair elections on time in May. Parliament starts a two-day meeting
on Tuesday to discuss the new government's policy statement and vote it into
office.
Syria had vowed to go by April 30 but will be out four days early. U.N. chief
Kofi Annan overrode U.S. objections to delay a report on Syria's progress for a
week until Tuesday, when a U.N. verification team will arrive in Damascus.
The team hopes to obtain maps of Syria's former positions and reports on the
status of its military and intelligence presence in Lebanon, a U.N. official
said. The team then travels to Lebanon, where it is to verify the Syrian
withdrawal.
As the last Syrian military and intelligence units pulled out, Lebanon's
Syrian-installed security apparatus showed signs of crumbling on Monday with the
resignation of the country's most powerful security chief allied with Damascus.
The pro-Syrian head of Lebanon's General Security department Jamil al-Sayyed
resigned, saying: "Security chiefs are usually appointed with politics and
change when it changes."
The chief of police, Ali Hajj, last week put himself at the disposal of the
interior minister, effectively stepping down.
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