Syria Sticks to Pullout Plan

A United Nations envoy said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad had agreed to withdraw troops from Lebanon under the terms of a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and France.

After a meeting Saturday in Syria, special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Assad had told him soldiers and intelligence officers would evacuate after a discussion between Syrian and Lebanese military officials that is expected to take place by the first week of April.

But Roed-Larsen did not disclose a timetable, saying he would first report details to U.N. head Kofi Annan next week.

“I will present the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, with further details of the timetable for a complete Syrian pullout upon my arrival in New York,” Roed-Larsen said in a statement read by a U.N. spokesman.

The envoy met for more than an hour with Assad at the Syrian president’s home in the city of Aleppo. Roed-Larsen described the session as “very constructive,” saying Assad had made clear his intention to leave Lebanon.

Syrian soldiers arrived in 1976 after the start of Lebanon’s civil war. Under a 1989 agreement ending the war, the forces were to stay only temporarily as peacekeepers, but they have remained.

“I’m encouraged by President Assad’s commitment to the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559,” Roed-Larsen said, referring to the U.N. measure approved last year demanding a complete withdrawal of foreign troops.

The resolution also calls for disarming Hezbollah, a widely popular Shiite Muslim party in Lebanon that the United States considers a terrorist group. But U.S. officials have not made that provision a priority.

Roed-Larsen said Assad had repeated his recent promise of a phased pullout under which Damascus would first redeploy troops from northern and central Lebanon east to the Bekaa Valley, closer to the Syrian border, by the end of March. In the second phase, the forces would leave Lebanon altogether. Syria had previously not addressed the question of when its last troops would withdraw.

Assad said “a significant number” of the Syrian forces would leave Lebanese soil during the first stage, Roed-Larsen said.

The U.N. Security Council is to get a report next month on Syria’s compliance with the resolution and could later consider sanctions if Damascus has not implemented the measure.

Early last week, thousands of troops began relocating to the Bekaa Valley, with many crossing back into Syria. Some intelligence officers remained behind.

Assad said all troops would be withdrawn after the gathering of military officials from both countries that was arranged last week during a meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Syria is also under pressure from opposition groups in Lebanon that have taken to the streets. The protesters have been demanding that Damascus withdraw its troops, the most visible embodiment of Syrian influence in Lebanon.

The opposition campaign quickened after the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many critics of the government hold Syria and its Lebanese backers at least indirectly responsible for the death. Both governments have denied any role.

The protests prompted Lebanon’s pro-Syria prime minister, Omar Karami, to quit on Feb. 28. But after a massive Hezbollah rally in support of Syria last week, Karami was reappointed to the job Thursday, angering the opposition.

Opposition leaders have listed a full Syrian pullout as a condition for joining a unity government under Karami.