4,000 Syrian Troops Begin a Pullout
From Times Wire Reports
Syrian troops in northern Lebanon began pulling out, the first step in a planned redeployment of about 4,000 soldiers from the country this week. The pullout, largely from Christian areas that Syria entered in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, was cautiously welcomed by the United States. Damascus has about 20,000 troops in Lebanon.
Syria sent the troops in to save Christian militias from defeat by Muslim, leftist and Palestinian forces. Damascus later turned against the militias after they sided with Israel.
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