Syrian Troops Will Redeploy Closer to Border, Leaders Say

Syrian soldiers will abandon their posts in the northern mountains and central regions of Lebanon by the end of March and mass in the Bekaa Valley, closer to Syria’s border, the presidents of the two countries pledged Monday.

The promised redeployment of the estimated 14,000 troops fails to satisfy the demands of the United Nations, the United States and a determined Lebanese opposition, all of whom are calling for a complete withdrawal. The presidents gave no timeline for the full retreat.

After the announcement, Syrian soldiers and military vehicles began to move east toward the Bekaa Valley, according to local news reports. It was the first concrete sign of a pullback in weeks of political turmoil, but it was rebuffed as inadequate by tens of thousands of protesters who filled Lebanon’s capital.

“We want the Syrians out. The Bekaa means they stay in Lebanon, which is not enough,” said George Aouad, a 23-year-old engineering student in wraparound sunglasses. “They should go to Syria.”

With parliamentary elections set for May, Lebanon faces serious hurdles in the next few months. Even if the soldiers leave, Syrian influence permeates virtually every Lebanese institution. It’s unclear whether Lebanon will be able to purge itself of Syrian spies, not to mention their Lebanese counterparts, or how it will do so.

Another serious question is the future of Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim political party and militia that is the most potent political force in the country. Followers of the group are expected to pour into the streets today to demonstrate support for Syria and protest what they call “foreign interference” in Lebanese affairs -- the international demands for a Syrian withdrawal and the disarmament of Lebanon’s militias.

Hezbollah enjoys broad popular support and has boasted that it can bring half a million people into the streets. The decision to protest is a sign that the party, which has a powerful parliamentary bloc and a network of social and charity organizations, is feeling threatened by calls to lay down its guns.

“Hezbollah tries to tell us they’re a resistance group that doesn’t interfere, but now it seems they’re involving themselves internally. They’ll have to pay a price for that,” said Gibran Bassil of the Free Patriotic Movement, a largely Christian group that had opposed Lebanon’s pro-Syrian government, which collapsed last week. “Hezbollah will be responsible for any destabilization here.”

The Syrian redeployment to the Bekaa Valley began after Lebanese President Emile Lahoud traveled to Damascus, the Syrian capital, to meet Monday with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad.

It was a summit of two beleaguered rulers. Both men have been politically battered by the deteriorating patience, both in the international community and on the streets of Beirut, for Syria’s decades-long hold on Lebanese affairs.

Calls for Syria to leave Lebanon have mounted in the wake of the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut. Although Damascus denied that it was involved, many people blamed Syria for killing Hariri or at least failing to prevent his death.

Forced by mounting pressure from his foreign allies, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, a reluctant Assad gave a rambling and sometimes angry speech to parliament Saturday. The Syrian president denounced foreign interference, but still pledged to pull his troops from Lebanon in a phased withdrawal.

As for Lahoud, Lebanese demonstrators have been yelling for his resignation since Hariri’s death because of his intimate ties to the Damascus government. But the Lebanese president has remained unfazed by the call to step down and has refused to follow the lead of pro-Syria Prime Minister Omar Karami, who resigned.

Anti-Syrian protests have been carrying on in Beirut for three weeks without any sign of waning. The most die-hard demonstrators have erected a tent city behind the bullet-pocked monument in Martyrs’ Square, a memorial to those killed in Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.

They have pledged to stay there until Syria has relinquished its hold on Lebanon. Lebanese troops have deployed in the area in an effort to prevent clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian demonstrators.

Walls around the square are covered in graffiti reading, “Syria out, we hate you,” and “1559,” a reference to the U.N. Security Council resolution last fall that called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon. Some messages denounce the Syrian president as “Assaddam,” combining his name with that of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Assad has made it clear that he prefers to pull his troops out of Lebanon in the manner described by the 1989 Taif Accord, which put an end to the civil war and gave Syria permission to keep its troops in Lebanon for a while to keep the peace. Under terms of the pact, Syria promised to pull back its forces to the Bekaa Valley, then negotiate with Lebanon for a full withdrawal from the country. But it never followed through.

The U.S., France and many of the protesters contend that it’s too late to talk about Taif. Last year’s U.N. resolution called for an immediate and complete withdrawal, and Syria’s foes accuse Damascus of trying to hide behind a defunct accord as it defies international law.