NEWS: Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon

Damascus is to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. Honouring the Taif Agreement of 1989 which called on Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon after the end of the Lebanese civil war. The removal of Syrian troops to the Bekaa Valley was intended for 1991 but they have remained in place to this day.



The assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri and the ensuing Lebanese backlash against Syria would of forced Syria into taking these steps.

Its 14 years overdue but would deny the current US administration a reason to justify an attack on Syria.

Taif Agreement

[edit on 21/2/05 by subz]

[edit on 21-2-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 22-2-2005 by John bull 1]

No responses yet?!
This had been the U.S. or Israel, this news and topic thread would be on fire!

Great news for Lebanon, indeed.
The question that remains to be answered is 'when'?
Encouraging though and good catch, subz.





seekerof

No doubt about it... IF Syria really does pull out this will have a rather large effect on the Mid East's political dynamics far into the future.

The possibility that Syria is only making noise still stands but hopefully they will tire of being targeted both on the street and in the court of World Opinion.

Like Seekerof says, "when" is the big question now...

m...

Originally posted by Springer


Like Seekerof says, "when" is the big question now...

m...

IT took them 14 years just to say they were ready to do it......I will believe it when it happens......

Hello, it's a play. The whole thing has been written. We are on act two, the reason for the Bush war machine to keep burning gas. Act one, Iraq is over and the cronies want more. It's has a good plot line with smoke screens and redhirings. When the US is done watching, they will think they saw a play about the forces of good spreading freedom over the dark places in the world. The writers of this play will be running to the bank with a blockbuster. And as for the actors, died by the thousands in Iraq.

Today, thousands of Lebanese - Muslims, Christians and Druze together - observed a one-minute silence at 12:55 P.M. This has been the exact time former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed a week ago and at the same time radios and television stations broadcasted the Lebanese national anthem.

Several were carrying Lebanese flags and wearing red-and-white scarves, an emerging symbol of the opposition. "Syria out! We don't want a parliament that acts as a doorkeeper for the Syrians," some yelled, competing with loud insults shouted against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Hariri was one of the architects of the 1989 Taif agreement that ended Lebanon's civil war.

Syrian forces have redeployed several times since 2000, but Syria's critics have called the withdrawals were merely tactical and have demanded a total withdrawal and an end to Syrian military intelligence involvement in the country's politics.

The United Nations, in a Sept. 2, 2004, resolution, demanded a full withdrawal.

AP

Wow. Just Freakin' Wow.

Well, well, well. Now isn't this special? I wonder what brought about the sudden change of heart? It is interesting to see who is making this announcement.

I don't think it takes a geopolitical genius to figure out what's going on here.

This is what effective diplomacy looks like in action.

We may just become friends with Syria yet, whether they like it or not.

Meanwhile, we are left to wonder if this wasn't indeed the outcome expected by those who murdered Hariri.

One thing's for sure: We now have Syria's complete and unwavering attention.

They're pretty much going to have to withdraw them for their own safety, the Lebanese are pretty fired up against the Syrians right now.

Haaretz just reported, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there was a "high level of suspicion" that Syria was involved in last week's bomb attack that killed Hariri.

And Bush said on the first day of a fence-mending trip to Europe:

"Just as the Syrian regime must take stronger action to stop those who support violence and subversion in Iraq and must end its support for terrorist groups seeking to destroy the hope of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Syria must also end its occupation of Lebanon,"

Hopefully the diplomatic tools to force Syria to leave Lebanon are strong enough.


Rebekka

Originally posted by dirk d
Hello, it's a play. The whole thing has been written. We are on act two, the reason for the Bush war machine to keep burning gas. Act one, Iraq is over and the cronies want more. It's has a good plot line with smoke screens and redhirings. When the US is done watching, they will think they saw a play about the forces of good spreading freedom over the dark places in the world. The writers of this play will be running to the bank with a blockbuster. And as for the actors, died by the thousands in Iraq.

So what do you have to say about the 14yrs of Syrian occupation?

Or does it not fit the agenda?

Its pretty irrelevant if this is all staged because Bush cant lose face over this commitment to Israeli/Palestinian peace.

He's got a decent track record of doing what he commits to, no matter what your opinions of the man are, he does what he says he'll do. He tells those whom he's about to stomp on exactly what he plans on doing.

I can see him using any Israeli/Palestinian peace deal as a nice addition to his collection of "achievements". "See all you peaceniks, im not a bad ol' guy after all"

Guys, we really need to be aware of all angles here. Lies and War, we have seen alot of them lately... Syria, Iran, Iraq, none of them represented a direct threat to the US, now they are the dreaded axis of evil in a period of four years. Ask some hard questions here... Do some research, before we buy into a couple explosions and assasinations as being justification for more violence.

www.theinsider.org...
Israel admits terrorist attack in Damascus
Israeli intelligence confirms that Israel carried out the terrorist attack in Damascus on Sunday, in which a car bomb was used to kill a political activist in the capital of Syria. Mr Khalil's car was torn to pieces by the explosion, leaving a wide crater in the road, and red-hot jagged shrapnel tore into the bodies of innocent civilians who happened to be walking past. The incident is similar to the regular car bomb attacks in Iraq in which many Iraqis have been killed.

www.wsws.org...
Under pressure from Washington, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1559 last September, demanding that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon. This political fact sheds light on the decision of the White House, before the blood on Beirut’s streets had dried on Monday, to issue a statement blaming Damascus. This entirely unsupported charge was followed by instructions to Washington’s ambassador to slap the Syrian regime with a demarche and leave the country.

In the midst of Washington’s provocative moves against Syria, for which the killing of Hariri supposedly provided justification, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared, with consummate cynicism, that the US was making no presumptions as to the authors of the crime. “We’re not laying blame,” she said, “It has to be investigated.”

www.solomonstemple.com...

Israeli attempt on Mashaal said foiled
by Jerusalem Post.com
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip on Monday endorsed reports that the Syrian authorities had thwarted yet another Israeli attempt to assassinate the movement's leader, Khaled Mashaal

There is always more to the story than what the tv tells you folks. To name a few...
www.theinsider.org...
www.orlingrabbe.com...
tvnz.co.nz...=html
news.bbc.co.uk...


[edit on 21-2-2005 by twitchy]

Apparently in all that research, you missed the connection here, twitchy? That Iran, Syria, and Iraq are connected to Terrorism; that they aid, support, and hide terrorist and their respective organizations?

That's the "Axis of Evil." You know, the same term usage we gave out in WWII, when Germany, Japan, and Italy formed their Axis Alliance, debatably, better known and called by some of those fighting against them: the "Axis of Evil."




seekerof

Originally posted by Seekerof
Apparently in all that research, you missed the connection here, twitchy? That Iran, Syria, and Iraq are connected to Terrorism; that they aid, support, and hide terrorist and their respective organizations?

That's the "Axis of Evil." You know, the same term usage we gave out in WWII, when Germany, Japan, and Italy formed their Axis Alliance, debatably, better known and called by some of those fighting against them: the "Axis of Evil."




seekerof

The Terrorism connection is irreverent, it doesn't fit into the agenda you see.

I'm also quite tired of this direct threat excuse. Wasn't that Lebanon barracks bombing from the 80's enough?

Iraq was connected with terrorism? All I can think of is the paying of money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers by Saddam Hussein, presumably to buy a new house after the Israelis demolish it. Kinda like the financial aid given to IRA terrrorists by wealthy Irish Americans.

[edit on 21/2/05 by subz]

Originally posted by Seekerof
Apparently in all that research, you missed the connection here, twitchy? That Iran, Syria, and Iraq are connected to Terrorism; that they aid, support, and hide terrorist and their respective organizations?

Yeah I must have missed that. Funny, because the last I looked, there was no formal alliances between Iraq and Iran or Syria, I guess the axis of evil is actually an axis of conjecture.
Terrorism... Yeah that's the big word now isn't it. Do you ever wonder why there is terrorism? Would you like to know why? Do you care why? No, probably not. You just think they hate our way of life, they hate democracy, they started it, blah blah. Seekerof, you are an intelligent human being, but sadly misguided if you actually believe that rubbish. We have been over there manipulating and positioning, and playing one against the other since Theodore Rosevelt era. If we had not let our foriegn policy be dictated by Pro-Israeli and coporate interests, if we had simply wrote them a check for our oil like everybody else friggin does, we wouldn't be worrying about who the next Goldstien was going to be. Don't try to hand me terror and axis of evil rhetoric, it's a monster we created. WE CREATED it, now we have to feed it. The only thing it eats is money and human beings. There is no enemy here but the ones we financed, trained, armed, and then incited. You buy a man a gun, buy his enemy a gun, then lie to both of them as they war away at each other and rob them blind, eventually yeah, there's going to be reprocussions. Are we so high and mighty that we have the moral high ground and dictate the policy and government of other nations? The US and Israel sponsor terror a plenty. Look at what goes on in South America day to day, in Africa, would you like a long detailed list of US involvement in terrorist activity, or do you know what Faux Pas means? Things like operation northwoods, Iran Contra, hell man, there are CIA agents in Columbia and Venezuela right now doing some rather dirty things. Get real. We aren't the righteous saviors of the universe, and armchair warriors like ourselves may think we hold the moral high ground, but history and a little research into US foriegn policy quickly prooves that to be BS. If we weren't a nuke weilding super power, there would UN troops here now wanting to see the source codes for Diebold Election machines and closing down chemical and biological weapons facilities. Who are we to impose our idea of democracy on another nation? We aren't spreading democracy, we are spreading capitalism and debt. There is no democracy in the world my deluded friend, this is a republic. (Iran is a republic FYI) and a republic is only as democratic as the elite allow it to be. When's the last steak dinner you had with senator so and so? It's a big ugly world, but it is folks like you who perpetuate the ugly. Like I said before, if we had simply wrote a check for our oil like everybody else, there wouldn't be anti-american terrorism, would there? Blech. I hate trying to tell people something their mommas should have taught them, respect people. Even arabs and muslims. The folks there that hate us hate us for a reason, for many reasons. Instead of bombing the piss out of people and invading them, hey, why not figure out what that is and fix it.

No rhetoric here, twitchy:
As of today buddy:
Bush and Chirac in Brussels demand the "immediate withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon"

Wasn't it Bush that said that freedom will spread democracy or something to that degree? In the applied case and topic, quite prophetic, huh?

Keep talking.




seekerof

A stragetic withdrawel I have zero doubt.

Am kinda startin to think our "crotch itch" Al Qeada is teaming or teamed up with Iran and Syria maybe North Korea... maybe China and Russia...hell maybe the whole friggin world is against the U.S.



No seriously, maybe an alliance?.....you know what they say 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'

[edit on 21-2-2005 by HardCore American]

Thankyou twitchy, the big picture goes back to 70's here. Bush senior and the goals of a larger group than just GW Bush and the whitehouse are still in play.

More than 150 Syrian intellectuals on Wednesday signed a petition calling on Damascus to end its military occupation of Lebanon and sent it Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"There is no more use of insisting on managing crises using old political solutions? its time that Syrian adopt a new policy which will take into account new developments, especially the criminal assassination of Rafik al Hariri," the petition read. (link)

French President Jacques Chirac also called anew for a withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. He said Lebanese parliamentary spring elections "will only be credible" if the UN resolution 1559, which essentially calls on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and to stop interfering in Lebanese politics, is applied