Lebanon dismisses UN call as "dangerous precedent"

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Lebanese foreign ministry dismissed a new UN Security Council call for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon as a "dangerous precedent of interference" in the internal affairs of a member state.
"Lebanon still considers Resolution 1559 a dangerous precedent of interference on the part of the UN Security Council in the internal affairs of a UN member state," the ministry's secretary general, Mohammad Issa, told reporters.
After days of diplomatic haggling, the 15-member UN Security Council agreed earlier Tuesday on a statement calling on Damascus to comply with Resolution 1559 adopted in September that demanded foreign troops to be pulled out of Lebanon.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Sharah, on a visit to Brussels, also rejected the latest call from the United Nations. "Our position remains as it was ... 1559 is illegal intervention in Syrian-Lebanese bilateral relationship," he said.
Damascus is the main power-broker in Lebanon and the current furore was set off when the Lebanese parliament changed the constitution to allow President Emile Lahoud, a Syrian protege, to stay in office for an extra term.
Syria is believed to have around 15,000 troops on the ground in Lebanon, the remains of a much larger force sent in during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and both Beirut and Damascus insist the troops are there by mutual agreement.
Resolution 1559 was sponsored by the United States and France.