Syria to be out of Lebanon long before May: Ambassador

Syrian troops will be out of Lebanon long before May, said Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha on Tuesday.

Damascus will withdraw "as soon as possible, even long time before May," the ambassador told CNN television. "We have actually pulled some of those troops into Syria as of today."

The remarks came after US President George W. Bush continued mounting pressures on Damascus earlier Tuesday, demanding Syria pull its troops out of Lebanon before the Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in May.

"All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for these elections to be free and fair," Bush said in a speech at the National Defense University.

Bush also warned his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, not to resort to what he called "delaying tactics and half measures."

Also on Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that "Syria needs to get out of Lebanon. Syria needs to withdraw completely and as quickly as possible."

The presidents of Syria and Lebanon announced on Monday that Syrian forces will pull back to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, without specifying a timetable of a complete troop withdrawal.

The pullback would be the biggest single move of its kind since Syrian forces intervened in Lebanon's civil war in 1976. It now has some 14,000 troops there, down from 40,000.

A joint military commission will then determine within one month the size and length of stay of the remaining forces after the redeployment.

The United States, a leading opponent of Syrian presence in Lebanon, dismissed the withdrawal plan just hours after the meeting, demanding a full and quick pullout of Syrian troops and intelligence services.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the United Nations does not set a timetable for Syria to pull out from Lebanon.

Annan said he is sending his envoy Terje Roed Larsen to the region this week to discuss the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which called for the full withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon.

"The resolution is clear that there should be full withdrawal, "he told reporters, adding that after the discussion between his envoy and countries concerned, he will know better how to proceed.

He said the UN Security Council will decide whether or not to send in an international force to Lebanon.

"Obviously, we do have our forces in southern Lebanon, but they have a separate mandate which does not include the monitoring of the Syrian withdrawal," he said.

The United Nations now has nearly 2,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

Source: Xinhua