Syria Quits from the North Lebanon

The Thousands of Syrian troops began redeploying closer to the Syrian border, while the pro-Syrian government was being re-instated in Beirut. More than three weeks after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, provoked the anti-Syrian rallies in Beirut and international calls for the immediate departure of Syria’s 15,000 troops and its secret services, Damascus has started to respond.

The Trucks were loading this week Syrian soldiers and equipment from different parts of Lebanon to take them east to the Beka’a valley, part of the first phase of the withdrawal promised by Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president, in a speech last Saturday. The president has yet to deliver a timetable for the full withdrawal demanded by the US and European governments. Some of the intelligence offices were evacuated, although one was still manned in the city of Tripoli, a security source said.

Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1976, early in the civil war. Their numbers have declined to 14,000 from a peak of 40,000, but they had never before abandoned the north. Syrian troops also continued to return home or move eastwards from the Beirut area in line with a phased withdrawal plan agreed this week amid intense global pressure on Damascus to lift its military and political grip on Lebanon.

It was not clear how many Syrian soldiers have gone home since the redeployment began on Tuesday. U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, due to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Saturday, said he expected Syria to provide a firm timetable for a total troop withdrawal from Lebanon as demanded by Security Council resolution 1559. The top US diplomat cautiously welcomed Syria’s withdrawal of its troops from northern Lebanon. But with others remaining in parts of its small neighbour, Rice reiterated the US demand for all Syrian forces to leave.

“It’s not a bad thing that Syrian forces are moving - clearly not a bad thing - but it is also not compliance with 1559,” she said, referring to a UN resolution, which calls for all Syrian forces to leave. On Friday, the last Syrian troops in north Lebanon left for home, underlining Damascus’s diminishing role in its neighbour.

Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1976, early in the country’s civil war. Their numbers have declined to 14,000 from a peak of 40,000, but they had never before abandoned the north. Syrian troops also continued to return home or move eastward from the Beirut area in line with a phased withdrawal plan agreed this week after US-led global demands on Damascus to lift its military and political grip on Lebanon. What is the point of Karami’s announcement that he would not form a government unless is it is one of national unity, and that he would take his time to do so, except to say that Lebanon will remain in the current state of governmental vacuum indefinitely?

In addition to the possibility of postponing parliamentary elections, it means that if the withdrawal of Syrian troops reduces Syrian influence, the relative void created by such a withdrawal would not be filled by opposition forces, and therefore pro-Syrians would still be holding the reins of power.