Syria to announce pullout timetable
Syrian foreign minister set to meet withU.N. envoy Sunday; Syrian official says joint Lebanese-Syrian military committee had met to discuss timetable
DAMASCUS - Syria will announce a timetable for the withdrawal of its remaining forces from Lebanon Sunday, a Syrian official source said Saturday.
"The date and timetable will be announced tomorrow, Sunday, after it is given to U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen," said the source, who asked not to be named.
Syria has come under intense international and Lebanese pressure to end its 29-year military presence since the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The source said a joint Lebanese-Syrian military committee had met in Beirut and Damascus in the last few days to agree on the timetable.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara and Larsen are scheduled to hold a joint news conference Sunday after the U.N. envoy has met President Bashar Assad, the source said.
In Beirut, a military source said Lebanese army chief General Michel Suleiman held talks with Assad in Damascus on Saturday, but gave no details of what they discussed.
