U.S. Calls on Syria to Withdraw Troops

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, left, talks with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, center, and former Lebanon president Amin Gamayel in Beirut today. (Milad Ayoub - Reuters)

The United States called on Syria today to completely withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, but a top Syrian diplomat said the forces would remain until the Lebanese government asked them to leave.

Faced with what they regard as threats from the United States, meanwhile, Iran and Syria said they would form a "common front." There was no immediate explanation from either side of what this would mean. The two countries have long cooperated closely.

In Moscow, the Russian government announced that it is negotiating with Syria to sell it advanced missile systems, a development that raises alarm in the United States because of worries about Syrian links to terrorist groups.

William Burns, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said in Beirut after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud that the killing of Hariri in a bomb blast Monday "must give renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon." He called for "the immediate and complete implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559," which was approved at the behest of the United States and France in September last year.

"What that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria of all of its forces in Lebanon," said Burns, who was in Beirut to attend Hariri's funeral.

The United States has not openly blamed Syria for the assassination, but has pointed to it as evidence that the presence of an estimated 14,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon is not ensuring security. On the contrary, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday, the Syrian troops' presence "is a destabilizing force in the region."

In Washington, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, said his country now has about 13,000 troops in Lebanon, down from 42,000 at the height of Syrian involvement in the neighboring country. He said the remaining troops are there at the request of the Lebanese government.

In an interview on CNN, Moustapha noted that Lebanon plans to hold elections in April, and he said Syria would heed any request from the new government regarding its military presence.

"The United States is trying to benefit from a national catastrophe that befell Lebanon," Moustapha said. He said Syrian troops originally entered Lebanon in 1976 "to end a civil war" and are no longer in any major Lebanese city, having withdrawn from Beirut two years ago.

"This government is asking our troops to stay," he said, referring to the Lebanese administrated headed by President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Omar Karami. "When they will ask us to leave, we will leave immediately. We will not blink an eye. Don't try to score politically on a national disaster that befell Lebanon."

Hariri and the pro-Syrian Lahoud had been rivals for years, and their dispute intensified last October with the passage of a Syrian-backed constitutional amendment that extended Lahoud's presidential term. Hariri resigned as prime minister after the amendment, which was seen as a rejection of Security Council Resolution 1559's call for the withdrawal from Lebanon of "all remaining foreign forces."

In a report to the Security Council in October, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said that in addition to uniformed Syrian troops, "there is also a substantial presence of non-uniformed military intelligence officials" who are part of the total Syrian troop strength of 14,000. Syrian troops were first deployed to Lebanon in May 1976 and remain there "by mutual agreement," Annan said both governments had told him. He said neither Lebanon nor Syria would provide him with a timetable for the withdrawal of Syrian forces.

In Tehran, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said after a meeting with visiting Syrian Prime Minister Naji Otari that the two countries would cooperate to face threats.

"We are ready to help Syria on all grounds to confront threats," Aref told reporters, according to Reuters news agency.

Otari said, "This meeting, which takes place at this sensitive time, is important, especially because Syria and Iran face several challenges and it is necessary to build a common front."

Adding fuel to the U.S. dispute with Syria was a statement issued Wednesday by the Russian Defense Ministry on the proposed sale of missiles to Syria.

"Talks are underway with [Syria] to sell it Strelets air defense short-range missile systems," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the Strelets missiles are not man-portable and can be used only when attached to a heavy vehicle, Reuters reported, making the weapons less attractive to terrorist groups than shoulder-fired missiles.

President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to sign an agreement to curb trade in shoulder-fired missiles at a meeting in Slovakia next week.