Assad announces Syrian pullback in Lebanon

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses parliament in Damascus March 5, 2005. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday announced a plan to withdraw troops from Lebanon. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Syrian President Bashar Assad waves to people from outside the parliament building on Saturday March 5, 2005 in Damascus, where he is to deliver a speech that is expected to announce the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    DAMASCUS, March 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday announced a plan to withdraw troops from Lebanon.

    "Syrian troops will pull back to Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon and then to the Syrian-Lebanese border," Assad told the parliament in a speech delivered in Arabic.

    He said through the move, Syria will fulfill its commitment to the Taif Accord and implementing UN Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon.

    The Taif Accord ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.

    The president said, however, the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon does not mean the absence of a Syrian role in Lebanon, and the influence of Syria over Lebanon does not depend on the deployment of troops.

    "Everybody has a view that the withdrawal is a problem, but this is the simplest thing. Syria does not reject the principal of withdrawal," he said.

    "We do not want to stay in Lebanon," he said, adding that Syrian troops have begun the pullback process.

    He also called for boosting bilateral ties through varying dimensions -- culture, the economy and education.

    Syria, a key power broker of Lebanon, has been mounting pressure to withdraw its 14,000 soldiers from Lebanon since the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last month. Enditem