Posted by Jim Lindgren:
Syrian Pullback to Bekaa Valley Prevents Search of That Area.--
Assad announced that he is pulling back Syrian troops to the Bekaa
Valley in Lebanon. This [1]entry from The Dream of Lebanon explains
the stated reason for staying in Bekaa:
Assad Withdraws 12,000 Troops, Keeping 3,000 Behind as Bekaa
Garrison
President Assad is expected to announce a major redeployment of the
Syrian army in Lebanon in a speech at Syria's People's Council, or
parliament, on Saturday, pulling out some 12,000 troops by March 23
and leaving behind a 3,000-strong garrison in the Bekaa Valley, the
Beirut media reports.
Assad believes the March 23 deadline would enable him to fend off a
potential storm at the Arab summit conference set for the same day
in Algiers against Syria's 28-year-old breath-choking tutelage over
Lebanon, media reports said.
The alibi for retaining the Bekaa garrison, complete with four
mountaintop early warning systems, is to guard against an Israeli
army flank attack on Damascus via Lebanon. Some Lebanese opposition
leaders may go along with the Bekaa concept provided Syria's secret
services are withdrawn altogether from every inch of Lebanon,
reports said.
The local media is focusing enormous interest on the Assad speech
Saturday afternoon, wondering whether he would make any reference
to the withdrawal of secret service centers that are abundant in
Beirut and other major Lebanese cities.
An Nahar said in a terse remark Saturday that residents of the
Upper Metn district spotted movements by the Syrian troops
stationed in the region. It did not elaborate.
The [2]Turkish Weekly has a couple of quotations from Assad's speech:
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad addressed the Syrian parliament
this evening. As expected he vowed a `gradual withdrawal` but no
timetable for the withdrawal was given.
Assad : `We have to act positively to the stability of Lebanon`
Assad defended the role of Syria for stability, and emphasized that
the Syria has no interest in Lebanon. Syria's presence in Lebanon
is just for the stability of the Lebanon and the region.
Assad says forces will withdraw to Bekaa Valley in E. Lebanon. He
claimed they were already pulled back troops in 1999 when there was
no pressure at all.
Assad: �We should not stay one day if consensus asks us to leave�
When I first heard that Syria was pulling out of Lebanon, I knew that
Syria would still try to set up a puppet government, so there was a
lot that would have to happen before Lebanon was free. But I also had
a tangential thought that a pull-out might allow the US or some other
reliable investigators to search the Bekaa Valley to see what the
Iraqis may have shipped there before the Iraqi War. One of the claims
that was made before the Iraqi War by the sometimes unreliable
Debka.com was that WMDs were shipped to Syria. After the War, both US
and coalition officials said that they tracked shipments to Syria, but
could not know whether there were any WMDs in them.
For example, Coalition WMD inspector [3]David Kay told the Telegraph
on Jan. 24, 2004:
�We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons. But we know
from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a
lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some
components of Saddam�s WMD program. Precisely what went to Syria
and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be
resolved.
The sometimes unreliable [4]Debka.com reported that one of the sites
where WMDs were buried was the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon:
Indeed the US administration and its intelligence agencies, as well
as Dr Kay, were all provided with Syrian maps marked with the
coordinates of the secret weapons storage sites. The largest one is
located at Qaratshuk at the heart of a desolate and unfrequented
region edged with marshes, south of the Syrian town of Al Qamishli
near the place where the Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish frontiers
converge; smaller quantities are hidden in the vast plain between
Al Qamishli and Az Zawr, and a third is under the ground of the
Lebanese Beqaa Valley on the Syrian border.
Since the Syrian pullback is to the Bekaa Valley, I guess the Syrians
will have a chance to cover their tracks (if their tracks need
covering). We know that the WMDs existed in Iraq in 1998 because
inspectors found them, and we know with reasonable certainty that
there were no major stockpiles of WMDs in Iraq when the war started
because we found only a few isolated WMDs in Iraq after the war. What
we may never know is when they were removed or -- what is more likely
-- destroyed.
References
1.
http://www.lebaneselobby.org/News__index/news%202005/03%2005%2005%20Assad%20Withdraws%2012000%20Troops%20Keeping%203000%20Behind%20as%20Bekaa%20Garrison.htm
2. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=5808
3.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/25/wirq25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/01/25/ixnewstop.html
4. http://debka.com/article.php?aid=780
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