DAMASCUS - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud were to hold a summit in Damascus on Monday to mark the start of a pullback of Syrian troops in its tiny neighbour.Lebanon's outgoing Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said Sunday that the Syrian military would start the much-awaited troop redeployment to the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon after the summit. A Lebanese presidential spokesman said the meeting of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, with Lebanon's outgoing premier, Omar Karameh, and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri also taking part, was due to start at midday (1000 GMT).
On Saturday, Assad said the supreme council would "approve the withdrawal plan and then we will have fulfilled our obligations under the Taef accord and under (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559." The Syrian president has not made clear whether the troops would cross over into Syria once they had reached the border, prompting calls from Washington and Paris for an unambiguous pledge for an immediate and full withdrawal. The United States said it would keep up the pressure for a complete Syrian withdrawal in line with Resolution 1559, which was passed last September.
The offer made so far by Assad was "half-hearted" and in "complete contradiction" to the Security Council resolution, White House director of communications Dan Bartlett said Sunday. He urged the Syrian government "to withdraw its troops and, more importantly, or just as importantly, withdraw its security secret services as well".
However, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, said Sunday after a meeting of pro-Syrian groups that they opposed an immediate withdrawal as Lebanon was still in a "state of war" with Israel.
| "And those Israelis could kill me!" he added. |
