Assad set to announce Lebanon withdrawal

Syrian President Bashar Assad will address his parliament tomorrow, raising strong speculation that he may bow to growing international pressure and announce some kind of troop withdrawal from neighbouring Lebanon.

The speech to the People’s Assembly had not been previously scheduled.

An official said in Damascus that Assad’s address will “deal with the situation in the region and the ongoing developments”. He did not elaborate.

It comes as Damascus is under intense pressure from Arab nations and the international community to quickly remove its 15,000 troops from Lebanon, where Syria has held sway for more than a decade.

Assad told Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in talks yesterday he would consider a partial withdrawal in the coming weeks, a Saudi official said.

Syria announced last week that it is committed to a pullout in line with a 1989 Arab-brokered agreement that called for redeploying its troops to eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, then for negotiating a full withdrawal with the Lebanese government.

But Damascus has not announced a timeframe for beginning the redeployment. Lebanese officials have said a pullback could come soon.

The pressure on Assad, a former London eye doctor, increased last month following the assassination in Beirut of a former Lebanese prime minister who opposed the Syrian presence in his country.

Since then street protests have been an almost daily occurrence in the capital.