Syrian troops to remain in Lebanon 'until April'

A senior Lebanese army officer has said 4,000 Syrian soldiers – more than a quarter of those serving in Lebanon just a week ago – are back in Syria, but he said a complete withdrawal is nearly a month away at the earliest.

A Syrian Cabinet minister also indicated a “very fast timetable for withdrawal” was expected – with completion ahead of Lebanese parliamentary elections as US President George W Bush has demanded. Election dates have not yet been set, but voting was expected to begin in April.

“The elections will take place and I think the troops will move out of Lebanon probably before then,” said Bouthaina Shaaban, a Syrian Cabinet minister. “I don’t know how logistically possible it’s going to be, but probably before then.”

In a flurry of diplomatic activity a day after meeting Assad, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen held back-to-back meetings yesterday with top Lebanese officials to ensure the implementation of Security Council resolution demanding Syria’s withdrawal.

Meanwhile, at least 100,000 pro-Syrian demonstrators turned out in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, burning Israeli flags and waving posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, his late father, President Hafez Assad, and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud – the second such rally organised by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah in a week.

Demonstrators shouted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” and slogans denouncing UN Resolution 1559, which was drafted by the US and France last year calling for Syria to withdraw its then 14,000 troops from Lebanon and stop interfering in internal Lebanese affairs.

Syria’s official news agency claimed hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Syrians rallied in the north-western city of Lattakia in support of Assad, chanting “Syria and Lebanon (are) one people,” and “No to foreign intervention, Yes to al-Taif Accord.”

In a smaller Beirut counter protest, thousands of anti-Syrian demonstrators held candles high, with the flames spelling out the word “truth.” Beirut’s downtown Martyrs’ Square was later jammed with thousands of protesters, including scores of youths waving Lebanese flags, honking car horns and blaring patriotic music. Another anti-Syrian demonstration is planned for later today.

Opposition members met a visiting delegation of European Socialist parties at the home of opposition leader, Walid Jumblatt, in Mukhtara, 19 miles south-east of Beirut to voice demands for a free Lebanon and complete Syrian troop withdrawal before parliamentary elections.

Despite the ongoing Syrian troop pullouts, Jumblatt said ”Anjar still governs,” a reference to the Syrian intelligence headquarters in the eastern Lebanese town of Anjar.

Since Tuesday some 4,000 Syrian soldiers have crossed into Syria while 4,000 others have redeployed to the eastern Bekaa Valley, where 6,000 troops are already stationed, a senior Lebanese army officer said.

Late last night, dozens of Lebanese civilians greeted a 30-truck Syrian convoy carrying some 150 soldiers and equipment, offering flowers and chanting pro-Syrian slogans before the troops arrived at the eastern Lebanese border point of Masnaa.

Speaking after talks with Roed-Larsen, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said the commission would set the “duration, time and location” of the Syrian redeployment, including whether the final withdrawal could take place before parliamentary elections.