Syria backs away from president's troops out promise
Syria began to backtrack today after President Bashar Assad said his troops “maybe” out of Lebanon in a few months.
He told Time magazine “The withdrawal should be very soon and maybe in the next few months. Not after that. I can’t give you a technical answer. The point is the next few months.”
Syria has 15,00 troops in Lebanon.
Assad, a former London doctor, appeared to be bowing to international pressure and the situation in Lebanon where people power has brought down the pro-Syrian government.
His statement brought cautious approval in Lebanon.
“It’s a nice gesture but next few months is quite vague, we need a clear-cut timetable,” said Druse opposition leader Walid Jumblatt.
“You know, few months, the question of time in the Middle East is terribly vague, we don’t have the concept of time here,” he said.
However, in reaction to the Time report, Syria appeared to back off the comments today.
An official in Damascus questioned whether it could occur within months, saying the Taif Accord was the basis for this matter.
The troops were originally deployed during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war - ostensibly as peacekeepers – and Syria has held sway over Lebanese politics ever since.
The 1989 accord that ended Lebanon’s civil war does not necessarily rule out a full withdrawal within months.
It calls for a redeployment to eastern Lebanon near the border, with a full pullout subject to negotiation. But Syria has not complied with the accord – one of the sources of anti-Damascus discontent in Lebanon.
