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Syria to pull 1/3 of its forces from Lebanon
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-13 16:41

Syria has promised to withdraw one-third of its 15,000 troops and 5,000 intelligence agents in Lebanon by the end of March, The Washington Post reported, citing US and UN sources.

A Syrian army truck carrying jubilant soldiers returns home from Lebanon through the Jdaidet Yabous border post, 70 kilometers east of Beirut, on the Lebanese-Syrian border, marking a partial end to a near-30-year presence in Lebanon. Syria has promised to withdraw one-third of its 15,000 troops and 5,000 intelligence agents in Lebanon by the end of March, The Washington Post reported, citing US and UN sources. [AFP]

President Bashar al-Assad also vowed to shut down Syria's intelligence headquarters in Beirut by April 1, in talks Saturday in the Syrian city of Aleppo with UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, the daily said Sunday.

Roed-Larsen announced after the meeting that Assad had agreed to remove all Syrian military and intelligence personnel from Lebanon in two stages.

"The first stage will see the relocation of all military forces and intelligence apparatus to the Bekaa valley by the end of March," the UN envoy said.

"Further, a significant number of these Syrian forces, including intelligence (personnel), will be withdrawn from Lebanon into Syria during this stage.

"The second stage will lead to a complete and full withdrawal of all Syrian military personnel, assets and intelligence apparatus," Roed-Larsen said in a statement read to AFP in Beirut.

Roed-Larsen did not immediately provide further details of the timetable, saying they would be presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York early next week.

He did not give a date for the final withdrawal of all forces.

That is to be decided by a joint Lebanese-Syrian military commission that will meet on April 7, according to the Post, which cited unnamed "Western sources familiar with the negotiations."

US officials welcomed Assad's pledges but expressed concern about Syria's failure to provide a final pullout date, the Post said.

Washington will insist the second stage brings "a complete and prompt withdrawal," and will not tolerate any "dilatory lingering," a senior administration official told the daily, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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