ASSAD HANGING ON
Syrian President Bashar Assad is apparently ready to withdraw his troops from Lebanon…sort of:
Syria President Bashar Assad is expected to announce today a pullback of his troops in Lebanon to positions near the Syrian border - falling short of a demand by President Bush yesterday for a “complete withdrawal, no halfhearted measures.”
Lebanese officials said that Mr. Assad would outline plans in a speech to the Syrian parliament in response to a growing outrage in the West -and in the Arab world -over Syria’s 29-year occupation of its neighbor.
Not surprisingly, the pullout would extend as far as the eastern Bekaa Valley on the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is here that the Syrian’s illicit drug operations are thought to be headquartered. Assad uses the drug money to keep key officials in the armed forces and police loyal to him.
He will probably need that loyalty. By going before the Syrian “Parliament,” Assad is bowing to pressure from his Ba’athist allies to quiet the storm surrounding the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, that most of the world is now convinced Syria was involved and which has precipitated numerous calls for Syria to honor its agreements under the UN backed Peace Accords with Lebanon and remove its forces.
Also, by partially withdrawing his forces, Assad buys time. The delay will allow him to further consolidate his position at home. Don’t be surprised if there are a few changes in the Syrian cabinet and in the upper echelons of the armed forces over the next few weeks.