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WASHINGTON, Mar. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria is under
mounting pressure to pull its troops out of Lebanon completely and quickly,or
will face political and economic isolation in the world community, The
Washington Post reported Friday.
The ultimatum will be issued to
Syria when Terje Roed-Larsen, atop UN envoy on the Middle East issue, scheduled
to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday, the Post reported, quoting UN
and US officials as saying.
The UN envoy will tell Assad that Syria will face
political andeconomic isolation if he does not completely and quickly withdraw
from Lebanon, the paper said.
Roed-Larsen plans to inform Syria that the
international community is united in insisting that Damascus comply with U.N.
Resolution 1559 -- and is prepared to impose wide punitive sanctions if it does
not act quickly, the paper quoted officials as saying.
Over the past weeks, the UN envoy has reportedly met
with US, European and Arab officials to determine the positions in preparation
for the diplomatic confrontation.
Roed-Larsen, according to the report quoting the UN
source as saying, will tell the Syrian president to take the following four
steps.
First, Syria must honor the independent sovereignty
of Lebanon and not undermine its spring elections for a new parliament.
Second, Syria must provide a complete timeline for a
full pullout of its troops.
Third, Syria must provide a timeline for the pullout
of its 5,000 intelligence agents in Lebanon.
Finally, Roed-Larsen will discuss other requirements
in Resolution 1559, including the need to disarm and dismantle foreign and
domestic militias operating in Lebanon.
Since the assassination of former Lebanese prime
minister RafiqHariri on Feb. 14, Syria has been under strong pressure to be out
of Lebanon completely, though it decided to withdraw its troops toeast part of
Lebanon from Beirut. Enditem
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