France Contends 1559 Abolishes All Treaties Regulating Syria's Tutelage

France has taken its pressure on the reigning regimes in Beirut and Damascus to a higher zenith, contending that all treaties that regulated Syria's tutelage over Lebanon in the past two decades have been rendered null and void by U.N. resolution 1559 of Sept.2, 2004, An Nahar reported on Saturday. "All treaties signed before the issuance of resolution 1559 have been abolished by Security Council resolution 1559. This covers the Taif Accord, especially in the section concerning the redeployment or pullout of Syria's armed forces," An Nahar's Paris correspondent George Sassin quoted responsible French sources as saying. The Taif accord was concluded in 1989 under the sponsorship of the 22-nation Arab League to halt Lebanon's 15-year civil war. But the Arab League had effectively stepped aside when Syria consequently assumed full control of Lebanon, citing the past as the green light. France's new contention also abolishes the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Coordination Lebanon and Syria concluded in 1992, which has largely cemented Syria's hegemony in Lebanon. "It has become impossible to continue to support such an accord, especially that it has not been fully implemented," Sassin quoted the French sources as saying. "It is imperative that a review should take place along the basis of resolution 1559 that supports the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon." Sassin also quoted the sources as saying France had been "patient long enough" to make the Syrian authority realize the need for the implementation of the Taif pact, noting that President Chirac has rejected in his annual address to the foreign diplomatic corps in Paris old formulas and outdated contentions "often repeated by the Lebanese authorities." The sources, Sassin wrote, also asserted that such methods as assassinations, assassination attempts, food poisoning or threats to kill were now outmoded. This was a reference to the car-bomb assassination attempt of Lebanon's ex-Economy Minister Marwan Hamadeh and the poisoning by the Ukraine secret service of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, Sassin noted. "This applies to the Lebanese and the Syrian authorities alike as far as directing intelligence services to carry out assignments outside the framework of their basic missions," the French sources were quoted as saying. "If the Lebanese authorities want to give a signal of openness to the international community," the sources told Sassin, "they should not be afraid of calling in international observers to monitor the upcoming legislative elections, especially that the government is affirming that these elections will be credible."