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Syrian Forces Leaving N. Lebanese Areas
Syrian forces dismantled some bases and began leaving northern Lebanese areas, witnesses reported Thursday, leaving a region Syria considers crucial to its national security after 26 years. The redeployment, expected to be completed by week's end, was agreed to at a meeting Tuesday of the Lebanese-Syrian military committee, according to a Lebanese army statement. A senior Lebanese army officer said Tuesday that 3,500 Syrian troops would be withdrawn. Syria began thinning out its military presence in 2001, making two withdrawals from Beirut and populous central Lebanon to bring down the numbers to about 20,000 soldiers from a high of 35,000 after Syria first intervened in the Lebanese civil war in 1976. Military analysts said the small numbers of troops withdrawn would be of little military significance. There were suggestions, not confirmed, that Syria wanted to strengthen its troop presence along its eastern border with Iraq.That's my guess. Military trucks and other vehicles, including trailers carrying tanks and armored personnel carries, grouped near the coastal town of Batroun 27 miles north of Beirut, and began heading north, the witnesses said. A total of 21 trucks were seen headed toward the border Thursday morning, the witnesses said on condition of anonymity. They added that Syrian soldiers were spotted at some positions loading ammunition and hardware on military trucks. Some positions were abandoned by Wednesday night. It was not clear whether all the withdrawing troops would return to Syria or if some would be rebased in other bases further north or in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. I'm sure they are being watched closely by the IDF. The redeployment was not expected to reduce Syria's domination of Lebanese politics, but was seen as being influenced by rising regional tensions as the United States threatens to attack Iraq, Syria's neighbor to the east. Gibran Tueni, general manager of Lebanon's leading An-Nahar newspaper and a harsh critic of Syrian policy in this country, said Thursday the redeployment was a Syrian message to America on the eve of an ''earthquake that may strike the region'' designed to help Damascus ''polish its image'' in the West. We'll see. Posted by: Steve 2003-02-20 |
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