About 1,000 of the 20,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon have begun dismantling bases near Beirut and in eastern and northern areas in preparation for withdrawing to the border or leaving Lebanon, a senior Lebanese military official said on Tuesday.
Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, has not commented on the latest troop redeployment, which was viewed in Beirut as a bid by Damascus to placate critics in the West and Lebanon.
The redeployment expected to be completed Tuesday began Monday night from posts in the coastal towns of Khalde and Aramoun south of the Lebanese capital and in northern and eastern Lebanese, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official said Syrian troops who withdrew from south of Beirut would redeploy to eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria, while those who vacated posts in northern Lebanon would return to Syria.
The official could not say how many would leave Lebanon. The redeployment was not expected to reduce Syria's dominance in the politics of Lebanon, its western neighbor.
A 1989 agreement ending Lebanon's 15-year sectarian civil war made Syria the guarantor of peace and security among the country's Christian and Muslim communities.
Christian opponents of the Lebanese government demand that Syria withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon, saying the security situation has improved since Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. However, the pro-Syrian government, with the support of the country's Muslim majority, says the Syrians are still needed until there is comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.
Syria once had some 35,000 troops in Lebanon, first sent in 1976 to quell the civil war but later drawn into the conflict. It began thinning its military presence in 2001, making three withdrawals from Beirut and populous central Lebanon, a stronghold of right-wing Christian opposition groups, and northern Lebanon, bringing the numbers to about 20,000 soldiers.
This week's redeployment came amid heightened regional tensions -- increased armed attacks on US occupation forces in Iraq -- and strenuous US attempts to implement the internationally backed "road map" plan designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and set the stage for an overall Middle East peace settlement.
Syrian-US relations have long been strained by Washington allegations that Damascus supports terrorism. During the Iraqi war, tension heightened when the US accused Syria of supplying military equipment to the Iraqis and giving refuge to former Iraqi officials. Syria denied the charges.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in