WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- President Bush's new national security adviser is encouraged by reports that Syrian troops are leaving Lebanon and calls for complete withdrawal.
Stephen Hadley said full details of a Syrian pullout would be known later this week when a special U.N. envoy reports to U.S. Secretary General Koffi Annan following meetings with Syrian and Lebanese leaders, including Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"The objective here is 1559. The Security Council resolution requires getting Syrian troops and intelligence officials out of Lebanon so that the Lebanese people can have elections this spring that are fair and free of outside influence," Hadley said on Fox News Sunday.
Syrian officials said 4,000 of the country's 14,000-strong force had gone back across the border into Syria. A timetable for the withdrawal of the remainder, who are now in the Bekaa Valley, is to be worked out in April in a meeting by Syrian and Lebanese officials.
Syrian troops and intelligence operatives have been in Lebanon since the mid-1970s. Last month, thousands of Lebanese demonstrated against the occupation following the assassination of a popular anti-Syrian politician.
