BEIRUT — US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns called yesterday for an "immediate and complete" withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Speaking in Beirut as slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al Hariri was laid to rest, Burns said: "Mr Hariri's death should give renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon. "What this means is the immediate and complete implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559, and what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria," Burns said after talks with Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.
| Very interesting how the US has used events, quiet diplomacy, and clear thinking from the top to put Syria in the cross-hairs. And how avidly the Syrians have cooperated. |
Meanwhile, Syrians said the Lebanese, who chanted anti-Syrian protests at the funeral of Hariri, would tear each other apart if Syrian troops left. "If they feel this way, then I say we should withdraw and let them break each other like falling water melons," said a student in Damascus who gave his name as Amjad.
| Who's your daddy, Amjad, and what's his rank in the Syrian intelligence services? |
Burns said Washington and the world would monitor Lebanon closely as it prepares to hold parliamentary elections in spring. "The Lebanese must be allowed to make their own political choices and to conduct elections free of foreign interference," Burns said.
"Today Americans join the international community in stressing the urgent importance of conduct a serious and credible investigation to bring those responsible for this act of terrorism to justice," Burns said adding that his country was ready to help.
Hammoud told Burns that Interior Minister Suleiman Franjiyeh had insisted on Beirut's opposition to an international probe of the Hariri bombing. "An international inquiry is unacceptable. If necessary, we will ask for experts from neutral countries," Franjiyeh had said on Tuesday.
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DUBAI - The son of slain Lebanese premier 
The United States asked the UN Security Council yesterday to expand an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister 
A bomb exploded in a Christian port town north of the Lebanese capital on Friday, killing one Sri Lankan woman, wounding six people and damaging shops and houses, a security source said. The explosion, the fifth to target the country's Christian heartland in two months, came on the eve of the return of anti-Syrian opposition leader 
BEIRUT: Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister stepped down on Wednesday, abandoning efforts to form a government to lead the country to general elections, but said there was still time to hold the poll as expected in May. Prime Minister Omar Al Karami's resignation seemed to make timely elections more unlikely and deepened the political crisis triggered by the February assassination of former prime minister 
A bomb caused a large explosion in a suburb of east Beirut, a security source said on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene, witnesses said. "A large bomb exploded near a commercial centre in Sin Al Fil," said the security source who declined to be named. Two explosions in the past week have targeted commercial areas in the anti-Syrian Christian heartland, killing three people and wounding 16.