Anti-Syria protest in Beirut
Photo: Reuters
Could Syria withdraw by March?
The U.S. and France set to propose U.N. draft resolution calling on Damascus to withdraw from Lebanon by end of next month, Arab sources report
The United States and France are formulating a United Nations draft resolution calling on Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon by the end of March, Arab sources told Damascus.
Details of the planned resolution were leaked to the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper by diplomatic source Friday.
A redeployment of Syrian forces in Lebanon would be unacceptable and only a complete pullout would do, the sources said.
“Help yourselves so we can help you,” the sources reportedly told the Syrians.
Annan calls on Syria to withdraw in April
On Thursday, the Lebanese Defense Minister said Syrian forces in Lebanon would be redeploying, but he stopped short from promising a complete pullout.
The withdrawals undertaken by Syria thus far, and the ones to be undertaken in the future, would be carried out in cooperation with Lebanon, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Mualem said.
Syria believes that boosting the speed of withdrawal requires the presence of Lebanese forces that would fill the potential vacuum created by the departure of Syrian forces, he said.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Damascus to remove its forces from Lebanon during April, before a U.N. Security Council resolution is formulated.
