How 'bout the one on the far right?
Posted on 03/03/2005 10:58:46 AM PST by Wolfstar
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for crisis talks on the future of Syrian troops in Lebanon as Russia and Germany joined international demands for their speedy withdrawal.
Damascus has faced mounting calls to end its military and political dominance of Lebanon since last month's assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister in a Beirut bomb blast.
Diplomats said Assad and his foreign minister, Farouq al-Shara, met Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Riyadh in the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.
Prince Saud earlier told reporters in Egypt his country had "no initiative" to resolve the Syria-Lebanon crisis.
Pressure on Damascus intensified when Russia, its main Cold War ally and still one of its best friends, threw its weight behind the campaign to evict the Syrians from Lebanon.
"Syria should withdraw from Lebanon, but we all have to make sure that this withdrawal does not violate the very fragile balance which we still have in Lebanon, which is a very difficult country ethnically," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC late on Wednesday.
Russia abstained when the U.N. Security Council adopted U.S. and French-sponsored Resolution 1559 in September calling for foreign forces to leave Lebanon and militias to disarm.
But Lavrov said the resolution, like any other Council measure, must be implemented.
Arab heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt want Assad to pull out his 14,000 troops from Lebanon in compliance with resolution 1559 and the Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
Prince Saud earlier met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss "the Syrian vision on implementing U.N. Resolution 1559," Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.
[SNIP]
SCHROEDER JOINS CHORUS
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, visiting Yemen, also called on Syria to take its troops out immediately, saying U.N. resolutions must be implemented to give Lebanon "an opportunity for sovereignty and development."
[SNIP]
Arab foreign ministers were in Egypt to prepare for next month's Arab summit. The Syria-Lebanon problem is not on any formal agenda, but has become an urgent Arab concern.
[SNIP]
Arab diplomats said Arab mediators were trying to persuade Syria to set a timetable for a withdrawal, but one said it was not clear whether Lebanon was in a position formally to request a pullout since it only has a caretaker administration.
The political crisis deepened on Thursday when Syria's [Lebanese] allies called for a government of national unity, ignoring demands by opposition leaders for Syrian troops and intelligence agents to depart and Lebanese security chiefs to resign.
Beirut in the late 60's was a beautiful city..
"Beirut in the late 60's was a beautiful city.."
Yes, and may it return to its former glory.
Michigan has citizens of Lebanese descent, and yes, the women are beautiful.
It is bittersweet to know that our secret is out. A very good percentage of Lebanese girls is gorgeous!
""Syria should withdraw from Lebanon, but we all have to make sure that this withdrawal does not violate the very fragile balance which we still have in Lebanon, which is a very difficult country ethnically," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC late on Wednesday."
No doubt, our Russian friends wish to look out for oppressed minorities, everywhere.
Lebanon's population is about 3.8 million, of which 39% are Christian. About 59% are muslims. CIA World Factbook.
Link to Major International News Sources
Link to Major U.S. News Sources:
All that Crusader blood mixed with Semitic peoples lovely
No doubt...[/end mocking sarcasm]
Those are great links. Thanks for adding them here.
The above item is very interesting.
Not just Crusader, but Greek, Roman and others from earlier times.
How 'bout the one on the far right?
Syria should pull out, but they should be replaced with something like NATO or US troops. Something to remember, though despotic, the Syrians have kept peace there for a decade. As soon as the overlord is gone, Lebanon will return to civil war. The last time they were peaceful was when they were 51% Christian, before the PLO arrived. Christians are around 30% of the population now. There will be civil war again between the Christians, Sunni, Shie and Kurds.
It won't unless the Lebanese Christians return to form a majority again.
Remember, it was the PLO who slaughtered the Christians and sparked the civil war. Before their arrival Lebanon was 51% Christian. It was also our military that saved Yassar and the PLO from the Israelies who had them surrounded and were ready to finish them off.
See pics.
- Abbas looks like he is actually someone serious,
- the IRAQ election has made Arabs and muslims start to dream the impossible, that democracy is *ACTUALLY POSSIBLE*
- the hamhanded Syrian assassination with proof they did it,
- the subsequent uprising amongst the usually passive and numbed-out lebanese
- everybody had moved against syria -- even france the russia have decided here is a chance to ramp down some of the bloodletting...
i think syria will *HAVE* to fold and withdraw completely before this is over...
Fingers crossed. Syria reportedly has almost no economy. Can the Syrian militarist regime survive without hard currency from Lebanon to pay off the army? If holding Lebanon is an existential issue for the Syrian regime, then they may go to extreme and bloody lengths to maintain their hold.
Has the old bag been heard from on the situation in Lebanon? Or is she busily trying to spin it as a negative against President Bush?
There are exceptions to every rule. ;-)
Saudis Warn Syrians To Leave Lebanon
21:48 Mar 03, '05 / 22 Adar 5765
(IsraelNN.com) Saudi Arabian senior officials warned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad today that Syria must withdraw from Lebanon immediately. Failure to do so, warned the officials, would result in a deterioration of relations between their country and Syria. Assad, who to this point has rejected all overtures to withdraw from Lebanon, replied that he will consider the possibility of a partial withdrawal from Lebanon later this month.
Pressure on Syria to leave Lebanon has increased recently from both the West and Arab countries in the wake of the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri. Hariri, an anti-Syrian former Lebanese PM, was assassinated by people believed to be working out of Syria. The assassination triggered massive protests in Lebanon and the resignation of the government earlier this week.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=77861
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