DAMASCUS, Feb 24 (AFP) - Syria said Thursday it is ready to redeploy its 14,000 troops in neighbouring Lebanon but is worried about the security vacuum that would result from a precipitate pullout.
"Syria believes that before accelerating the rhythm of its pullbacks it will be necessary for the Lebanese army and security forces to be in a position to fill the vacuum without damaging the security of Lebanon or Syria," deputy foreign minister Walid Muallem said.
"The significant pullbacks implemented so far and the steps that will be taken afterwards will be carried out in agreement with Lebanon on the basis of the Taef Accord and the mechanisms it sets out," he added.
There have been a series of partial redeployments since June 2001, which have seen Syrian troop numbers fall from a high of 35,000 in 1989. Most are now deployed in the eastern Bekaa valley or around the northern city of Tripoli.
But last September the UN Security Council passd a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and full respect for its sovereignty.
Lebanon and Syria have justified their rejection of Resolution 1559 by what they say is a continued threat from Israel.
Israel still occupies the strategic Golan Heights which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, as well as the disputed Shebaa Farms region which Beirut claims with the blessing of Damascus.
The 1989 Taef Agreement, which paved the way for the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, called for a phased pullback of the Syrian contingent originally deployed in 1976 to the Bekaa valley, but left the timeframe to the two governments.
After an interim period not exceeding two years, the agreement specifies that "the two governments ... shall decide to redeploy the Syrian forces in the (eastern) Bekaa valley... and if necessary, at other points to be determined by a joint Lebanese-Syrian military committee.
"An agreement shall also be concluded by the two governments to determine the strength and duration of the presence of Syrian forces in the above-mentioned area and to define these forces relationship with the Lebanese state authorities where the forces exist," the accord says.
02/24/2005 11:30 GMT - AFP