DAMASCUS, Feb 24: Syria said on Thursday it planned to pull back more troops to eastern Lebanon in line with a 16-year-old agreement and Lebanon's defence minister said troops would be on the move soon.
Damascus was ready to work with the United Nations to implement a Security Council resolution demanding its 14,000 troops leave Lebanon, Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed al Mualem said, an apparent response to international pressure.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese have taken to the streets to protest Syria's military and political grip on its tiny neighbour since a huge bomb killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al Hariri in Beirut last week.
"Syria expresses its keen interest in cooperating with the envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations to accomplish his mission in the best formula possible," Mr Mualem told reporters, reading from a statement.
"The important withdrawals that have been carried out so far and will be carried out later will be done in agreement with Lebanon against the backdrop of the Taif Accord and the mechanisms it entails," he said.
Mr Mualem's remarks were the clearest official response Syria has made so far to the latest outcry about its role in Lebanon. President George Bush said on Wednesday he would await Syria's response to the pressure before seeking possible UN sanctions against Damascus.
The Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, called for a redeployment of Syrian troops to eastern Lebanon, followed by agreement on a timetable for a full withdrawal.
Syria's opponents in Lebanon blame Damascus for Mr Hariri's killing and demand a complete withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence and that the Syrian-backed government resign.
'ARAB UMBRELLA': Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria are working on an "Arab umbrella" for Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon, Arab diplomats in the Saudi capital said on Thursday.
Contacts on the international front are also under way to defuse the crisis sparked by the Feb 14 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, they said.
These included an unannounced visit to Paris by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal, a Riyadh-based ambassador whose country is involved in the contacts, said.
The Arab initiative "seeks to provide an Arab umbrella for a Syrian redeployment that would lead to a withdrawal", he said, noting that Syria's troops first entered Lebanon under an Arab mandate in 1976. -Reuters
PULLOUT BEFORE APRIL SOUGHT
DUBAI: United Nations chief Kofi Annan on Thursday called for a Syrian troop pullout from Lebanon before April, warning that the Security Council could otherwise take "measures" against Damascus.
In an interview with Al Arabiya television network, Mr Annan called on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon before April, when he is due to present a report to the Security Council about Damascus's compliance with a UN resolution asking Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. -AFP
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