Syria Warns Lebanon not to Forge Separate Peace Deal with Israel

[onedomino]

Syria Warns Lebanese of Dangers After Withdrawal
Sat Mar 5, 2005 03:48 PM ET
By Lin Nueihed

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7816638&type=worldNews

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned the Lebanese on Saturday against forging their own peace with Israel, saying the period after Syria's withdrawal would be fraught with dangers.

Assad urged the Lebanese not be drawn into a peace deal with Israel that did not include Syria, whose strategic Golan Heights were seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

"The new May 17 is looming so be ready to foil it again as you did over two decades ago," Assad said, in a speech at parliament announcing the withdrawal.

On May 17, 1983, during the Israeli occupation of many parts of Lebanon and in the midst of civil war, Lebanon went against Syrian wishes and signed a peace accord with the Jewish state.

An uprising by Syrian-backed militias stopped the agreement from being ratified and it was eventually annulled by Lebanon.

Shortly after Assad's speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel saw the possibility of making peace with Lebanon once it becomes independent of Syrian "military occupation".

Assad said Syria did not withdraw under intense global pressure as it had cut its troops in Lebanon from 40,000 to 14,000 over the past five years.

"Withdrawal does not damage Syrian interests. On the contrary it fosters Syrian interests ... That is why we began withdrawing five years ago and have withdrawn 63 percent of the forces," Assad said.

"The number of forces was 40,000. It is now 14,000. No one recognises this ... They (media) want to make it appear as if Syria is withdrawing under pressure."

"WHICH SOVEREIGNTY?"

In an apparent swipe at Syrian ally turned Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, Assad said some politicians had "traded" in their country's sovereignty.

"We are with any Lebanese who speaks of sovereignty, but what kind of sovereignty are they talking about?," he said. "We discovered it was not the sovereignty of the Lebanese over Lebanon but the sovereignty of any other country but Syria over Lebanon."

Assad said Syria had always planned to leave Lebanon but once it did, the Lebanese would still have the much more complicated task of dealing with the remaining demands made in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.

That resolution calls for the disarming of militias in Lebanon. Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla (murder) group, backed by Syria and Iran, is the only militia that legally kept its arms after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

"Where is the problem with Resolution 1559? The problem is not with the withdrawal clause," he said.

"The problem is firstly with the resistance (Hizbollah) clause which is a problem on the Lebanese level and will become a problem is it is not treated well in the coming report."

He also warned of plans to naturalise some 350,000 Palestinian refugees who are living in Lebanon with limited rights.

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[Annie]

Speaking of 'unintended consequences.' Wanna bet Assad is wishing the assassination never took place....