Assad Reported to Declare Withdrawal Timetable

The reported announcement is seen as critical to the organization of Lebanese parliamentary elections in May.

Interviewed by French television Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Assad was now within days of announcing a schedule for the withdrawal of the estimated 10,000 troops remaining in eastern Lebanon.

“I have had several conversations with the Syrian president and my last one was yesterday in Algiers,” where an Arab summit took place, Mubarak told France 3 television.

“The Syrian president is implementing (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559” and will announce within a week a timetable for the withdrawal of all of his forces from Lebanon,” Mubarak said.

“I told him that it should take place before the (Lebanese legislative) elections (due by the end of May) to avoid other problems, and I believe he is fully aware of this. He is determined to withdraw his troops and also the intelligence services which are in Lebanon.”

“Within a week from now, I think that a precise timetable will be given to the UN (United Nations),” Mubarak reasserted the reports in an interview with French daily Le Figaro, according to an advance copy.

UN Report

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s president urged the United Nations to do whatever is needed to find out who killed former premier Hariri after the release of a hard-hitting UN report on the assassination, backing Lebanese opposition demands for an international probe.

President Emile Lahoud issued the appeal in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday just before the release of a UN report sharply critical of Syrian and Lebanese authorities over the February 14 bomb attack that killed Hariri.

“President Lahoud asked Mr. Annan to do what is necessary to establish the truth behind this crime as rapidly as possible,” a statement from the presidency said.

The UN report, which did not determine who was behind the attack, nonetheless concluded that Syria had created a climate of tension in which the assassination occurred.

It also faulted the Lebanese authorities for an investigation that it said displayed “gross negligence” and possibly criminal actions, adding that an independent international commission would be needed to establish the truth.

“It became clear to the mission that the Lebanese investigation process suffers from serious flaws and has neither the capacity nor the commitment to reach a satisfactory and credible conclusion,” Agence France Presse (AFP) cited the report as saying Thursday, March 24.

“The Lebanese security services have demonstrated serious and systematic negligence in carrying out the duties usually performed by a professional national security apparatus,” it added.

The UN Security Council ordered the fact-finding mission to Lebanon last month to report on “the circumstances, causes and consequences of the assassination of the former Lebanese premier.

Hariri was killed Monday, February 14, in a deadly blast that targeted his motorcade passing in a western Beirut area near St. George hotel.

The shattering explosion also claimed the lives of at least 14 others, including several bodyguards of the 60-year-old charismatic Lebanese figure.

Syrian Responsibility

The international team, led by Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, claimed that the Syrian military intelligence bore primary responsibility for a lack of security, protection and law and order in Lebanon and that and Lebanese security forces showed “systematic negligence,” Reuters said.

“Syria bears primary responsibility for the political tension that preceded the assassination of former Prime Minister Mr. Hariri.”

The report cited numerous accounts of a meeting held between slain Hariri and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to convince the Syrian leader not to support the extension of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

“Mr. Hariri met with (Syrian) President (Bashar) Al-Assad in Damascus in a last attempt to convince him not to support the extension (of the presidential term in Lebanon for Emile Lahoud last September.) “The meeting reportedly lasted for 10 minutes, and was the last time Mr. Hariri met with Mr. Assad,” the report said.

“According to testimonies, Mr. Assad threatened both Mr. Hariri and Mr. (Walid) Jumblatt with physical harm if they opposed the extension for Mr. Lahoud.”

“He (Assad) added that he ‘would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken.”

No Role

Responding to accusations of being responsible for Hariri’s killing, Syria denied any threats of “physical harms” in Lebanon, stressing that the Lebanese authorities were able to investigate it on their own.

“It is up to them, we don’t interfere with them in their affairs,” said Syria’s UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad.

“Syria had created a peaceful atmosphere” in Lebanon while the United States and France had caused divisions there by calling for Syria to withdraw forces in a Security Council resolution adopted last Sept. 2.”

Expectedly, the Bush administration said the fact-finding report raised “serous and troubling allegations”, pressing for launching an independent, international commission to conduct an investigation into the killing, according to Reuters.

“The report once again makes clear the importance of immediate and full withdrawal of all Syrian military and intelligence forces from Lebanon,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.

The United States and France have been piling pressure on Damascus to withdraw forces from neighboring Lebanon.

Following talks with UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen Saturday, March 12, Syrian Assad had pledged a two-stage military withdrawal from Lebanon.