WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The United States and the United Nations have urged Syria to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon before the May elections.
The issue was discussed Wednesday during a Washington meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, Terje Roed-Larsen.
The meeting focused on the resolve that "Syria should pull all of its troops and intelligence assets out of Lebanon before the elections," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told a briefing in Washington.
Only the complete pullout, he said, would allow the elections to "take place in an environment that is free of foreign intimidation and pressure," he said
Roed-Larsen is to travel to Lebanon next week to review the situation.
The demand for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon after more than two decades came last month when former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in west Beirut. Many Lebanese blame Syria for that incident, saying Hariri was removed because he opposed the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
A large number of Lebanese Shiite Muslims, however, want Syria to stay. The United States supports the demand for Syrian withdrawal.
