US steps up calls for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon

BEIRUT (AFP) - Two American diplomats renewed calls for Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon, 48 hours after a US Congress delegation made a similar plea, in what analysts said could presage further sanctions by Washington against Damascus.

Vincent Battle, the US ambassador to Beirut, told the Lebanese daily An-Nahar that it "was time the Syrian army withdrew from Lebanon" so that the country "could enjoy total sovereignty".
He added that differences between Washington and Beirut were growing over the question of southern Lebanon and the Syrian-backed Shiite Hezbollah militia which holds sway there and is branded a "terrorist organisation" by the US government.

"We have begun talks with the Lebanese government with a view to deploying the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon and disarming Hezbollah, but they haven't brought about a result for the time being," Battle added.

Meanwhile, Walid Maalouf, a member of the US delegation to the United Nations (news - web sites) who is of Lebanese extraction, told An-Nahar: "Lebanese foreign policy is subjected to that of Syria.

"We have been able to observe at the United Nations that Lebanese diplomats do not take the slightest initiative but simply wait for the orders of Syrian diplomats," he said.

A US congressional delegation which met the Lebanese and Syrian presidents, Emile Lahoud and Bashar al-Assad, over the weekend also called for the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon.

Republican Representative Christopher Shays (news, bio, voting record), who headed the delegation, said that more than 10 years after the end of the Lebanese civil war and with Israeli forces no longer present in Lebanon, Syrian troops should withdraw and the Lebanese be given control over their security.

Analysts said the increasingly blunt tone indicated that George W. Bush's administration was losing patience with Syria, which had failed to fall into line after the imposition of earlier sanctions.

Political analyst Elias Harfouche said that if Syria made concessions on Lebanon, the United States would see it as a sign of willingness to cooperate on other matters, notably Iraq (news - web sites).

Pro-Syrian Lebanese Culture Minister Ghazi Aridi accused Washington of interfering in Lebanon's internal affairs, while politician Maan Bachour said the aim was to curb Syria's opposition to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the US military presence in Iraq.

Damascus for its part sent Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara to Beirut Monday carrying a message from Assad to Lahoud.

Lebanese state television gave only the vaguest idea of its content, saying it referred to "the latest developments in the region and notably Iraq."

But Shara diverted from his usual custom by failing to speak to the press, apparently in order to avoid embarrassing questions.

Bush imposed sanctions on May 11 against Syria, which stands accused by Washington of sponsoring terrorism, seeking to produce weapons of mass destruction, trying to destabilise Iraq and occupying Lebanon.

Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since they intervened in the civil war in 1976. An estimated 16,000 Syrian troops are still deployed on Lebanese soil with the approval of the government in Beirut.

Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 20-year occupation, but Lebanon and Hezbollah with Damascus's consent charge that territory Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and still holds is really Lebanese.

Beirut backs Hezbollah's sporadic actions against Israeli troops on the border, without sending its own forces into the area.