by Nathaniel Harrison
BEIRUT - Lebanon pledged Sunday to work with the United Nations to secure a full Syrian military withdrawal from its territory but insisted that Lebanese and Syrian authorities would set the date for a final pullout.
President Emile Lahoud, during a meeting with special UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, "vowed to cooperate fully with Larsen to facilitate his mission in Lebanon out of Lebanon`s conviction that all UN resolutions should be respected," a presidential statement said.
But Lahoud also stressed that a date for a "full and final" Syrian withdrawal would be determined by "both countries` cabinets and military leaderships," according to the statement.
Larsen agreed that implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for a Syrian pullout, could not come at the expense of Lebanese political stability.
He was meeting Sunday with embattled pro-Syrian authorities here facing the prospect of another huge opposition demonstration on Monday.
"I think that our consensus had been very good," Larsen said after conferring with Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamoud.
"We discussed all issues related to Security Council Resolution 1559 and its implementation and I am very glad to say that I think the foreign minister and myself ... see eye to eye on all issues."
The Lebanese and Syrian governments had opposed the measure when it was debated in the Security Council last September.
But Larsen on Saturday disclosed after a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad that the Syrian leader had now agreed to fulfill the terms of the resolution and to withdraw his military and intelligence units.
The Syrian-backed Lebanese government has insisted on applying the 1989 Taef accord, which paved the way for an end to Lebanon`s factional strife a year later.
While the Taef agreement called for an initial redeployment of Syrian troops in the Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon, it notably left it to the Lebanese and Syrian governments to determine the duration of the Syrian military presence as a whole.
Hamoud on Sunday stressed that "the (Syrian) withdrawal will be carried out on the basis of Taef and the process of Taef."
Larsen said implementing 1559 should be undertaken "in the best interest of all parties concerned and will take into consideration the necessity of political stability in Lebanon ...
"We agreed that there is a possibility to find a way out of this present difficult situation -- there are alternatives which are in the best interest for all parties concerned here."
Lebanon`s political atmosphere here has become increasingly volatile since the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
The killing -- blamed by many here on Damascus -- sparked an outbreak of public fury and intensified pressure for the departure of all 14,000 Syrian troops and intelligence officers.
Syrian authorities have denied involvement in the assassination.
A protest planned by Monday by the anti-Syrian opposition was expected to be a response to a massive rally last Tuesday of Lebanese groups -- notably the Shiite movement Hezbollah -- sympathetic to Syria.
Pro-Syrian forces were also to stage a demonstration Sunday in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh.
The prospect of further demonstrations and counter-demonstrations prompted Lahoud to warn of a catastrophe Saturday if the protests continued.
"If they want to continue demonstrating, a little firecracker will lead to catastrophe," Lahoud said as he received a union delegation.
"We are not in Georgia and nor are we in Ukraine. We have lived through 17 years of war and this could happen again," he added, referring to Lebanon`s devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
Adding to the tension is a political impasse confronting newly designated Prime Minister Omar Karameh, whose appeal to the anti-Syrian opposition to join him in a government of national unity has been rejected.
Parliamentary sources said he had postponed by one day consultations with MPs on a new cabinet that were to have begun Monday.

03/13/2005 12:19 GMT