Syria promises to end Lebanon occupation

Syria has promised to remove all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon by April 30, the UN envoy said today after meeting with Syria’s president and foreign minister.

The withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, where they have been stationed since 1976, has been demanded by a United Nations resolution last year, which also called on Syria to end its influence in Lebanese politics.

In a statement, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa informed him that “all Syrian troops, military assets and the intelligence apparatus will have been withdrawn fully and completely” by April 30, at the latest.

The UN will be able to send a verification team to monitor the full withdrawal if Lebanese authorities accept, Roed-Larsen said after meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad and al-Sharaa.

Roed-Larsen said the Syrian commitment implies all its security forces will be withdrawn in line with the 1989 Taif agreement, which paved the way for the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, and September’s UN Security Council resolution 1559.

The resolution demanded the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, where thousands of forces have been based since 1976, and an end to Syrian influence in Lebanese politics.

The UN envoy said Syria and the United Nations share a mutual understanding that the withdrawal “should proceed in a way that would best ensure the stability and unity of both Lebanon and Syria.”

Lebanese officials were not immediately available for comment on whether they’d accept the UN verification team, but it is unlikely Lebanon’s pro-Syrian government would object if Damascus and the United Nations agreed to it. Roed-Larsen is expected to meet Lebanese officials tomorrow.

Al-Sharaa praised Roed-Larsen “for his excellent achievement today,” adding it “will help to improve the climate ... in the Middle East.”

The Syrian foreign minister, speaking at the same news conference, said “by its full withdrawal from Lebanon Syria would have implemented” its UN resolution 1559 requirements.

International pressure has increased against Syria to leave Lebanon since the February 14 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.