Facing the heat, Syria says willing to withdraw from Lebanon

DAMASCUS, Feb 21 (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday he would take steps soon to withdraw his troops from Lebanon under an accord that ended the 15-year civil war there, according to the head of the Arab League.
Syria is facing intense international pressure to end its political and military domination of Lebanon and is suspected of having a hand in the murder a week ago of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"During our meeting, President Assad expressed his firm desire, more than once, to continue implementing the Taef accord and to withdraw from Lebanon in keeping with this agreement," Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa said.
Mussa`s comments, after talks with Assad, came as US President George W. Bush again called on Damascus to leave Lebanon, where Syrian troops have been stationed for almost three decades.
"Syria must... end its occupation of Lebanon," Bush said in a major speech at the start of a European tour.
Damascus first sent in troops a year after the outbreak of the civil war in 1975 and their numbers have been gradually reduced from a peak of between 35,000 and 14,000.
"Taef and the withdrawal are part of Syrian policy. Steps in these matters will be taken shortly," Mussa added.
The 1989 Taef Accord, named after the Saudi mountain resort of the same name, called for Syria to start redeployments from Lebanon within two years of the end of the civil war.
Mussa met Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara as tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the seafront in Beirut to urge Damascus to recall its troops from Lebanon after the killing of Hariri.
The Lebanese opposition have pointed the finger of blame at Damascus and the pro-Syrian government in Beirut over the murder, which recalled the dark days of the civil war and a string of political assassinations.
Assad believes "it is in everyone`s interest that the inquiry (into the killing) is carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible so that the uproar dies down", the Arab League chief said.
He said that Damascus supported the participation in the probe of a UN team which is expected in Beirut this week.
Hariri, a five-time prime minister and billionaire businessman who spearheaded Lebanon`s post-war revival, was killed four months after he quit in a row over Syria`s influence in his country.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there was a "high level of suspicion" that Syria was involved in the killing and urged an independent investigation.
Lebanon`s government, facing mounting calls to resign over the murder, has vowed to cooperate with the UN investigators to find his killers but rejected a full international inquiry.
France and the United States, which co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution last September demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon, have also been vocal in insisting on a UN inquiry.
Around 60 Syrian intellectuals and human rights activists, in a message to the Lebanese opposition, have joined the international calls for Damascus to pull out its troops of Lebanon, human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said.
One of the signatories, writer Michel Kilo, said an "open letter" would be addressed to Assad on Tuesday.

02/21/2005 18:18 GMT - AFP