Straw: All Syrian troops must withdraw from Lebanon
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has welcomed the Syrian confirmation that its troops will begin to fall-back from part of Lebanon – but said that this should only be the start.
The Lebanese defence minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said that Syria is to begin to pull its troops out of Lebanon, initially moving them to the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The redeployment will begin after the presidents of Syria and Lebanon meet later today to discuss the details.
So far it is unknown whether all Syrian troops will leave Lebanon under the plans.
Outgoing minister Mr Mrad, part of the pro-Syrian government that promised to step down last week after popular protests, said the first stage of the pullback would be complete by the end of the week.
Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers during the 1975-1990 civil war, but have remained since.
Mr Straw said: “I was glad to hear the news that, as a first step, President Assad has announced that Syria will move to implement the Taif Accord and Syria will withdraw troops to the Beka’a. A joint Lebanese-Syrian committee will work on the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon
and they need to take into account the views of the people of Lebanon.”
He added: “This needs to happen as quickly as possible. As I called for yesterday we expect to see rapid progress to the withdrawal of
Syrian troops from the whole of Lebanon in line with UNSCR 1559.”
The US has demanded that all 14,000 Syrian troops leave Lebanon by May, in time for elections.
