Syrian soldiers hauling missiles and radar equipment headed home on Tuesday ahead of their country’s planned military withdrawal from Lebanon by the end of the month. A United Nations envoy met Lebanese officials to monitor the progress of the pullout.
The envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said he held ”very good talks” with outgoing Lebanese Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh on implementing Security Council resolutions, particularly resolution 1559, which calls for the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon and the holding of parliamentary elections on time.
Roed-Larsen is also expected to meet Lebanon’s defence minister and army commander to discuss the pledge made by Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday to remove all his country’s troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon by the end of April.
The UN envoy is also expected to visit the cleared out premises that once housed Syria’s main intelligence units in Beirut.
Syria’s agreement to pull its forces from Lebanon is in line with September’s UN Security Council resolution 1559 and demands by the Lebanese opposition and the United States. Lebanon has also agreed to let a UN team verify the pullout.
Roed-Larsen, special Middle East envoy for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said Assad’s pledge to pull his remaining 8 000 troops from Lebanon will satisfy Security Council demands, which have intensified since the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
On Tuesday, Syrian troops were seen filling four trucks with equipment in one of their positions in Mdeirej, a mountain village overlooking the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Late on Monday, two Syrian military radar posts were dismantled and taken from a hill near the village of Deir Zanoun, about 16 kilometres from the Lebanese-Syrian border, witnesses said.
16 Syrian military trucks, each carrying a single missile, also left Tallet Dibo near Sultan Yacoub in the western Bekaa Valley heading toward the Syrian border 12 kilometres, to the northeast, Lebanese security officials said.
Some 150 Syrian troops also left two observation posts and an anti-air defence position at Sultan Yacoub, the officials said.
Syrian and Lebanese army commanders have ordered the final phase of the withdrawal to begin on Thursday.
On Monday, France and the United States introduced a draft UN resolution to authorise an independent investigation into Hariri’s killing and rejected Lebanon’s call for major involvement in the inquiry.
International pressure has increased on Syria since Hariri’s killing, which sparked massive anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon. Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition, which has blamed Damascus and their own country’s pro-Syrian government for the assassination, has generally welcomed the Syrian pledge to leave Lebanon. Both governments have denied involvement in Hariri’s death.
On Monday, Roed-Larsen discussed the withdrawal with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud. Earlier this year, Syria had some 14 000 soldiers in Lebanon, but removed some 6 000 while pulling the rest back into the eastern Bekaa Valley, near the border, during the past month.
Syria sent soldiers to Lebanon during the second year of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, after which Damascus remained and became the major political force there. At its peak, the Syrian force numbered about 40 000. — Sapa-AP