Lahoud Against Syrian Pullout
Saturday, March 25, 2000
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanon's president said Saturday that a rare call for a Syrian pullout from Lebanon was "Israeli motivated."
In a daring front-page commentary Thursday, Lebanon's leading newspaper An-Nahar called on Syria to begin withdrawing its 30,000 troops from Lebanon in line with the 1989 agreement that ended the country's 1975 -90 civil war.
But in a statement, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said calls for Syria to withdraw were "Israeli motivated" and "aimed at exerting pressure on Syria and Lebanon" in peace negotiations with
Israel.
Syrian support was vital to Lahoud's election to the presidency by the parliament in 1998.
Syrian President Hafez Assad is due to meet President Clinton in
Geneva on Sunday for talks expected to revive the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations that have been stalled since January. If
Syrian-Israeli talks make progress, Lebanon is expected to conduct negotiations with the Jewish state as well.
An-Nahar's managing director, Gebran Tueni, wrote that many
Lebanese, mainly Christians, rejected Syrian control over their country. "They are asking if the price of peace in the region is definitive Syrian control over Lebanon," said Tueni, who himself is a Christian.
The government maintains that Syrian troops have played a stabilizing role in Lebanon's postwar recovery.
In a conciliatory gesture, Lahoud said he was "confident that
Syria itself is not committed to staying in Lebanon."
The withdrawal, he said, "is linked to a time that serves our interests and not to a time that serves Israeli interests."
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
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