US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday called for free and fair elections in Lebanon following the surprising resignation of the pro-Syrian government and stressed the need for polling independent of any "contaminating influences."
Speaking to reporters after an international conference on Palestinian security, Rice said the Syrians must withdraw some 15,000 troops and their security services from Lebanon.
"The pressure of the international community is quite palpable on Syria," she said.
"They really should get about living up to their international obligations," she added.
The US' top diplomat said the dismantling of terrorist militias in southern Lebanon would be critical to any forward steps in the region.
"There can't continue to be strikes from southern Lebanon," she said.
Earlier in the day, the US and France issued a joint statement calling for an international investigation of the death in Lebanon of opposition politician Rafik Hariri and for a full pullout of Syrian troops there.
Rice said there is "a long list of concerns about a Syria that is standing in the way of Lebanese, Iraqis, Palestinians and others in their aspirations for a better world."
Rice, in an interview with the US network program ABC News, blamed the Islamic Jihad in Syria for the suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed five Israelis on Friday.
"There is evidence that Islamic Jihad, headquartered in Syria, was in fact involved with the planning of those attacks in Tel Aviv."
"And so the Syrians have a lot to answer for," she said.
"We don't know the degree of Syrian involvement, but certainly what is happening on the territory of Syria, in and around Damascus, is clearly threatening to the different kind Middle East we're trying to grow," she added.
Huge street demonstrations and Monday's resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government marked the most serious challenge to Syrian authority in Lebanon since the end of the civil war that killed 150,000 and gutted the Lebanese economy in the 1970s and 1980s.
Lebanese shops, businesses and banks reopened on Tuesday after a one-day strike the previous day to protest the Feb. 14 assassination of former prime minister and billionaire businessman Hariri.
Hariri's killing was the catalyst for the peaceful protests demanding Syria release its military and political hold.
Issues such as Syria's involvement in Lebanon, the long-running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and Iran's nuclear weapons program were among the topics that were discussed as Rice met with foreign leaders in London.
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