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Syria Shifts Troops Toward Israel NewsMax.com WiresBEIRUT, Lebanon – Syrian trucks were spotted Wednesday heading east from the hills above Lebanon's coast toward the Bekaa Valley and Israel, according to Al-Markaziah, the Lebanese news agency. The agency said the Syrian forces were to evacute positions in Mount Lebanon and coastal areas and organize in the Bekaa. The report follows an announcement earlier Wednesday by Lebanese officials that the Syrian army will redeploy its forces in some areas of Lebanon within a week. The fact that they appear headed for the Bekaa suggests Syria plans to increase pressure on Israel, observers told United Press International. Tensions across the Lebanese-Israeli line have spiked in recent days, with Hezbollah militants - a Lebanese Shiite group supported by Syria and Iran - and Israel Defense Forces trading gunfire and other attacks across the disputed border region. On Tuesday the Jewish nation warned Syria and Lebanon not to allow any more cross-border attacks into its territory. Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri said the redeployment was "proof that the Syrian forces helped the Lebanese army and security forces in spreading stability in the country in line with the Taef accords." Hariri said the move had nothing to do with Israel's comments. "If this were true, it should be the contrary. There won't be a redeployment but more deployment by the Syrian army," he said. A joint delegation, headed by Syrian Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Safi and Lebanese Maj. Gen Hassan Turkmani, briefed President Emile Lahoud on the plan, the announcement said. The redeployment announced Wednesday by Lahoud's office would be the third in two years. In 2000, units were withdrawn from positions around the capital, Beirut, to the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian frontier. Protests From Christians Observers saw that move as intended to calm a rising tide of protests from Christians in and around Beirut and by others who want the Syrian military out of Lebanon. Lahoud has praised their role in consolidating security, stability and civil peace in Lebanon and in assisting the Lebanese Army to rebuild its forces. Hariri said Wednesday the redeployment "took longer than expected because of the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon [which ended in May 2000] and its repeated aggressions during the past few years." Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1975 as part of an Arab deterrence force to help stop a raging civil war. Though other Arab forces withdrew a year later, nearly 35,000 Syrian soldiers remained, making Damascus the power broker in Lebanon. The Saudi-brokered Taef accords provided for pulling back Syrian forces to the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian frontier. Syria was supposed to completely withdraw from Lebanon two years after the accords were signed. The pact also called for the end of a system authorized by the Lebanese National Pact in 1943, which said the country's president should always be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim. Syria has argued that failure to carry out constitutional reforms requires that it remains in Lebanon. In related news, the special U.N. envoy to south Lebanon said he had to interrupt a meeting with Hariri because of "a big attack and retaliation" in the Shabaa farms, part of the disputed region between Lebanon and Israel. Staffa de Mistura said the United Nations was taking such border clashes very seriously at a time when the region is witnessing enormous tension. He said he was to keep in touch with the Lebanese prime minister during the night because of the seriousness of the incident. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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