Syria Ends Military Presence in Lebanon

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_syria

RAYAK, Lebanon - Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon on Tuesday with a farewell ceremony near their shared border, with a Syrian commander telling Lebanese troops: "Brothers in arms, so long." The soldiers responded, "So long."

Some 250 soldiers in red berets and camouflage, the last Syrian troops remaining in Lebanon, shouted chants supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad during the ceremony at the army air base at Rayak, a few miles from the Syrian border.


The soldiers' departure comes after heavy international and Lebanese pressure following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Anger over the killing helped turn the tide against Syria's longtime presence in Lebanon. The opposition blamed the murder on the Lebanese government and its Syrian backers, accusations both governments deny.


Syria has gradually pulled out its 14,000 troops from Lebanon over the last two months.

[James T. Kirk]

1. End the occupation! Hooray!

An arab country will now be more free thanks to the popular rejection of foreign occupation, a rejection of terrorism and the rise of a democratic movement! Take THAT, George W. Bush!

[Save The World]

2. Kick!

Good news.

[Az_lefty]

3. I'm sure the shrub and kindasleezy are ready to take full credit...

:puke:

[Rainscents]

4. Until, civil war start...

[Moderator]

5. kick to combine

[pnutchuck]

6. Syrian troops leave Lebanese soil

Syria has announced that all of its military forces have left Lebanon in line with United Nations demands.
It informed the UN of the withdrawal after a parade of about 200 Syrian soldiers in the Bekaa Valley to mark the end of the 29-year deployment.

Soldiers received medals and shouted support for Syria's president before marching off to a Lebanese army band.

Pressure for Syria to leave grew after the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in February.

more
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4484325.stm

How do you think Bush is going to get his hands on Syria for the pipeline now?

[LisaM]

7. Huh. The headline doesn't call them "peacekeeping" trooops

What a shocker.

[pnutchuck]

8. That's because the bushistas wanted to attack Syria to continue

their pipeline through Afghanistan. How are they going to wage war with them being so damned cooperative? Oh wait... Didn't Saddam cooperate too? I guess we'll just make something up.

[Save The World]

9. They stopped being peacekeeping troops more than a quarter century ago

eom.

[LisaM]

10. Ya think? What do you think will happen now to maintain stability?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0315/p06s01-wome.html

[Save The World]

12. Lebanon has an army

Besides that, stability is not necessarily always the ideal scenario. The most stable nations are often also the most repressive.

[seriousstan]

11. Syria notifies UN of complete pullout

Syria has officially notified the United Nations of its complete withdrawal from Lebanon in a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.



Damascus had argued for some months that it would not heed last September's UN resolution demanding the departure of all foreign troops, because Israel had yet to implement an array of other resolutions on the Middle East conflict.

However, the last Syrian soldier crossed the Lebanese border earlier on Tuesday, ending a 29-year deployment.

"The Syrian Arab Republic wishes to formally notify you that all Syrian military and security forces deployed in Lebanon went home today to Syria after carrying out several deployments in recent years," the letter from the Syrian foreign ministry said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C12B2007-531F-487E-8EDE-D0A1C0CC4E84.htm