BEIRUT: The United States continues to clamour Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but behind the scenes in Washington, there is growing unease with the realization that a Syrian military pullout may unleash militia-inspired anarchy.

"Sources close to US President George W.Bush in Washington are growing increasingly uneasy, even fearful, with what could happen in the wake of a Syrian military pullout," commented Murhaf Jouejati, a Syrian affairs expert at Washington's Middle East Institute and studies director at George Washington University.

On Thursday, Damascus hinted it intends to comply with the 1989 Taif Accords that formally ended the Lebanese civil war and specified that Syria withdraw it troops from all parts of Lebanon, with the exception of the Bekaa valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

While this falls short of last September's US-French inspired UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon, it suggests that Damascus is beginning to bow to international pressure.

Still, President Bashar Assad's government has yet to set a date for the soldiers to return home. "Obviously in public, the US is demanding a speedy withdrawal of Syrian troops, but in private they know all too well that Damascus is the only regional force that can guarantee a degree of stability, or, at least keep in check Hezbollah," Jouejati said.

Unlike France, the United States favours a "gradual and only partial withdrawal" to avoid the creation of a power vacuum in Lebanon, Jouejati explained. "The Lebanon-Syria question is cited as the only foreign policy issue on which France and the United States totally agree, yet this is not the case - Paris is demanding a complete and immediate pullout," Jouejati said.

The reason for this divergence of viewpoints is that France supports the emergence of a sovereign Lebanon, he said. Moreover, France's fall-out with the Damascus government "began some time ago", especially after Syria opted to favour the United States instead of France in a series of oil-related deals.

The frosty reception Damascus gave a series of reforms proposed by President Jacques Chirac's government, strained relations further. Despite having branded it a "rogue state" and accused it of supporting terrorism, Washington views Syria as the only force able to rein in Hezbollah. -Dawn/Adnkronos.