U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned Syria it must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April in the latest escalation of tension between the international community and Damascus. The hardening of attitude comes as Syria said it will "redeploy" all of the 15,000 troops it has stationed in Lebanon to the country's eastern border with Syria in a last ditch attempt to defuse increasing international pressure against it. Foreign Minster Deputy Walid Moallem said Syria was willing to cooperate with the UN but insisted again that any withdrawal would be carried out in line with the 1989 Taif Accord and not through UN Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon.Moallem said: "The important withdrawals that have been implemented so far, and those that will follow will be carried out in agreement with Lebanon based on the 1989 Taif Accord and the mechanism it contains." But in an interview to be shown later Friday with Dubai-based Al-Arabiyya television, the UN chief warned that "the Security Council would take measures against Syria if it does not implement the resolution." Al-Arabiyya added that Annan called for "a full withdrawal of the troops deployed in Lebanon, not a redeployment to the east of the country."
But Annan's comments came as Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Mrad said there would be no complete or immediate withdrawal. Mrad said: "A decision has been made for Syrian troops to pull back from Lebanon's coast and mountains toward the Syrian border in Bekaa but we cannot give any timeline." He added: "We cannot create a security vacuum."