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Boosted by huge rally, Lebanon's Lahoud meets MPs
Lebanon's president, buoyed by a mass rally in support of his Syrian backers, holds talks with parliamentary deputies on Wednesday after which he is expected to name a pro-Syrian prime minister.
Syrian troops continued to redeploy overnight to eastern Lebanon in the first stage of a two-phase pullout, security sources said.
It was the first major show of popular support for Syria in Beirut since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri touched off daily anti-Syrian protests, mainly involving Maronite Christians.
The rival rallies, each using the Lebanese cedar flag to show patriotism, reveal deep rifts in Lebanon over Syria's role and the future of Hizbollah, the country's last armed militia.
US President Bush again told Syria to take its hands off Lebanon before parliamentary polls due by May.
"All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for those elections to be free and fair," he said in a speech in Washington on Tuesday.
Syria's ambassador to the United States suggested on Tuesday Syria would complete the withdrawal before the May parliamentary elections.
"They are actually being withdrawn today. We will do this as soon as possible, even a long time before May," the ambassador, Imad Moustapha, told CNN.
But Lebanese President Emile Lahoud holds a parliamentary majority and Wednesday's consultations were widely expected to preserve Syria's political hold for the time being, which could deepen a rift with a large anti-Syrian opposition movement.
Under Lebanon's constitution, Lahoud is required to hold talks with all parliamentary groups to take their nominations then announce the prime minister whose name came up most.
Political sources said the favorite looked to be Omar Karami, who resigned as prime minister last week after huge protests in Beirut but stayed on in a caretaker role.
Officials said the talks would last a day and the announcement was expected soon afterwards.
The anti-Syrian opposition has called for a government made up of people not running in the May election, fearing a pro-Syrian government would manipulate results.
But after Syria announced a troop withdrawal from Lebanon on Saturday under immense international and Lebanese opposition pressure, political sources expect Lahoud to name a close ally to head the government in the lead up to the polls.
Opposition MPs say they plan to meet Lahoud, but give him a list of demands instead of nominating a prime minister.
They want Syrian-backed Lebanese security chiefs to resign and a complete Syrian withdrawal, as well as an international probe into Hariri's killing, which they blamed on Damascus.
At Tuesday's protest, Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah urged the Lebanese opposition to join a national unity government and reject a U.N. demand for the Syrians to leave and his own militia to disarm. Witnesses said army trucks carrying rocket launchers and towing artillery guns left a major Syrian post at Dahr al-Baidar, east of Beirut, late on Tuesday, and crossed the border into Syria. Troops were also readying to leave. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lahoud agreed on Monday to shift Syrian troops to eastern Lebanon by March 31. A statement said the Syrian and Lebanese military would then decide how long the Syrians stayed. A Syrian official source in Damascus said Syrian security and intelligence agents would leave along with the troops. |
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![Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah (C) is surrounded by bodyguards as he addresses the crowd in central Beirut March 8, 2005. Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese flooded central Beirut on Tuesday for a pro-Syrian rally called by Hizbollah that dwarfed previous protests demanding that Syrian troops quit Lebanon. [Reuters]](xin_12030209095676557979.jpg)
