Syria slams UN call to withdraw from Lebanon

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused the United States of pressuring other Security Council members into accepting a presidential statement urging Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Fayssal Mekdad's comments came after the UN Security Council again urged Syria to withdraw its remaining 14,000 troops from Lebanon and called for reports from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan every six months on its compliance.

"There is bitterness in the Security Council because of pressures that were exerted to force a number of countries to accept the logic inherent in the presidential statement," Mekdad told Lebanon's Hizbullah-owned Al-Manar television.
In an interview with pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV, Mekdad accused the United States and France of "extortion beyond imagination."

In Brussels for the initialing of a wide-ranging Syrian-EU "Association Agreement," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa called the Security Council statement an "illegitimate interference in the bilateral relations of two countries at peace with each other."

It was the second time in six weeks that the council, at the behest of Washington and Paris, demanded Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

The Security Council adopted a resolution on Sept. 2 urging Syria to withdraw all its troops from its smaller neighbor and stop intervening in its domestic affairs.

All 15 council members agreed on the presidential statement, including the two Islamic nations - Algeria and Pakistan.

During two weeks of difficult negotiations, Washington and Paris dropped a request that Annan monitor implementation of the resolution, and agreed not to name Syria. They initially called for reports from Annan every three months, but compromised on six months.

Mekdad told Al-Manar the statement did not reflect the international community's will and that calls for Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon did not serve peace but served "a private agenda for some domineering countries that wish to control and dominate the world."

In Damascus, Syrian lawmaker George Jabbour said Tuesday's statement was softer than the Sept. 2 Security Council Resolution 1559 and reflected "a better French understanding of Syria's position."
"Now Syria has time to manage its affairs," Jabbour said, referring to the six-month period during which Annan is urged to report on the resolution's implementation.

Mohammed Issa, a Lebanese Foreign Ministry official who took part in Tuesday's Security Council meeting, also criticized the statement.

"Lebanon still insists on considering Resolution 1559 to be a dangerous precedent by letting the United Nations and the Security Council interfere in the internal affairs of a member country," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency quoted Issa as saying.