Assad: Syrian troops out of Lebanon ‘very soon’

[arcos]

Assad: Syrian troops out of Lebanon ‘very soon’

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syria expects to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in a few months, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published Tuesday.

Assad's statement came a day after popular protests helped force the resignation of Lebanon's Syrian-backed prime minister and as the United States pressed its call for an immediate end to Syrian military and political dominion over neighboring Lebanon.

The withdrawal "should be very soon and maybe in the next few months. Not after that,” Assad told Time magazine in an interview published on its Web site. “I could not say we could do it in two months because I have not had the meeting with the army people. They may say it will take six months,” he added.

Syria, which has 14,000 troops in Lebanon, has come under increasing pressure as a result of the mass demonstrations, which were in response to the assassination last month of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

<snip>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7023538/

[EVDebs]

1. So when do the Hezbollah Assad hosts leave ? eom

[LynnTheDem]

2. Hizbollah is Lebanese and VERY POPULAR in Lebanon. They hold 8 seats

in the government; they aren't leaving.

[EVDebs]

3. What government ? It dissolved yesterday didn't it ?

Lebanon dissolves government-Prime minister resigns amid protests, pressure from West

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/11019831.htm?1c

Hezbollah is becoming a Lebanese liability...And a Syrian liability...and an Iranian liability...looks like Lebanon is going to push them out into Syria, who will push them into either Iraq or Iran...If Iraq, they die unless they can fly to Iran. And that only delays matters.

[LynnTheDem]

5. There is no way Hizbollah is "leaving" Lebanon; they ARE Lebanese

The PM and his Cabinet left the government.

[Teaser]

6. Read a paper.

The parliament is intact. That's where Hezbollah holds 8 seats. by rights,t hey should hold more.

[Gloria]

4. They sure aren't leaving...see this article...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB26Ak03.html

Feb 26, 2005


Lebanon guided by the Nasrullah factor
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - Any person who was in Beirut on May 24, 2000, the day Hezbollah liberated South Lebanon, understands how immensely popular the enigmatic Hasan Nasrullah is in the country's Muslim, and particularly Shi'ite, community. Any person watching his speech five years later, this month, after the US started to press for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, and the disarming of Hezbollah, of which Nasrullah is the head, knows how easy it might be for the United States to get Syria to leave Lebanon, but how difficult, if not impossible, it would be to disarm or weaken the Shi'ites.

snip

Hezbollah described the Ashura march this year as "a massive rally in defense of the resistance". "We gather today to express the people's will to protect the resistance movement against all attempts that aim at eliminating its presence and ending its role," Nasrullah said.

And that is exactly what Nasrullah will do: work for the protection of his interests, those of Syria, and the Shi'ites of Lebanon, against all external meddling by the US.

[EVDebs]

7. With Syria leaving (hopefully soon) Hezbollah will be unprotected

and nobody wants to go back to the civil war...but Hezbollah will anyway...it's in their stars.

""Annan also urged Lebanon to disarm the Palestinian militants and Syrian-and-Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia that hold sway in southern Lebanon." from
Annan Presses Syria To Pull Out of Lebanon

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 2, 2004; Page A15

please note the date; also note who supports who. What would a disarmed Hezbollah be like ?