Syria carried out a "comprehensive redeployment" of its army in Lebanon on Tuesday in a move that, according to observers, seems designed to ease U.S. and U.N. pressure on President Al-Assad's regime.
Lebanon's presidential spokesman Rafiq Shalala said the defense ministers and army chiefs of staff of the two countries met at the defense ministry compound in Yarze to finalize the size of the redeploying troops and their re-assembly venues along the Lebanese side of the common border in the Bekaa Valley, Naharnet website reported.
A joint communiqué from the two generals was expected to detail the timeframe of the operation as troops started their pullout from Greater Beirut and Lebanon's central mountain ridge toward the Bekaa border in line with the 1989 Taif accord that marked the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war.
The move comes less than two weeks before U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to report to the Security Council on the degree of Syria's compliance with resolution 1559, which urged a prompt Syrian military withdrawal and the election of a new president in Lebanon in conformity with the Lebanese constitution.
The first word of the latest redeployment came late Monday from Syria's ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa, who told UPI that the operation "reflects greater Syrian confidence in the situation" in Lebanon. "This movement should make all parties concerned happy."
On the ground, over 1,000 Syrian troops began dismantling bases near Beirut Tuesday in preparation for redeploying closer to the Syrian border or leaving Lebanon, a top Lebanese military official said.
The official told The Associated Press that Syrian soldiers began evacuating hilltop positions in the coastal towns of Aramoun, Chuweifat, Damour, Doha and Khaldeh, south of Beirut, in the first phase of a major Syrian redeployment.
The official expected the Syrian redeployment to be
completed in a few days.
The second phase will see Syrian troops withdrawing from
eastern and northern areas as a prelude to redeploying in
eastern Lebanon's Bekaa region or to the border, the
official said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
