Syria plans Lebanese redeployment

Syria is to redeploy its troops in Lebanon, but the move appears short of the withdrawal that the UN Security Council demanded.

Lebanon’s defence minister Mahmoud Hammoud said the planned redeployment in major cities in eastern and northern areas, expected to begin today, indicated that “the security situation in Lebanon is becoming more stabilised".

He spoke after a meeting of senior Lebanese and Syrian military officers in Beirut.

Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, has about 20,000 troops stationed in the country.