Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam accusing the United States, France, Italy and Britain of interfering in Lebanese internal affairs.
The four countries contribute a total of 4,800 troops that comprise the multinational peace-keeping forces supporting the Lebanese army.
‘I asked the U.S., France, Italy and Britain to withdraw their troops from Lebanon because their presence implies a direct interference,’ Khaddam said.
The statement coincided with an ‘urgent appeal by the Saudi kingdom calling on the Lebanese people to be wary of the delicate and dangerous developments taking place in Lebanon,’ Saudi Information Minister Ali Shaer said on state-run Saudi radio.
Syria alone is blocking the establishment of a Lebanon cease-fire force, a senior American official said.
The official spoke to reporters Friday after Secretary of State George Shultz failed to convince Syrian Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam to agree to a proposed U.N. cease-fire force in Lebanon.
Speaking on condition his identity be withheld, the official said Syria maintains the United Nations format would constitute a further foreign interference in the future of a dispute that should be settled by the Arab world.
Syria, which has some 40,000 troops in Lebanon and is the principal arms supplier to the Moslem Druze militia, would be a necessary partner to any long-term agreement on a cease-fire in Lebanon.
U.S. officials fear that Syria’s aim is the establishment of a Lebanese government that would be subservient to Syria, splitting the country into two halves, one dominated by Syria, the other by Israel.
The meeting between Shultz and Khaddam came two days after Khaddam made a harsh publc attack in the U.N. General Assembly on the U.S. role in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Although the U.S. official said personal relations between Shultz and Khaddam were good, the Syrian official repeated the ideas he had aired publicly in his private meeting with Shultz.
According to the American official, the United States will continue to push the idea of a U.N. observer force in Lebanon, despite Syrian opposition. ‘Just because one country opposes an idea,’ the official said, ‘doesn’t mean the idea is dead.’
Lebanese officials hoped some action could be taken by the United Nations on a cease-fire force by the weekend, but that hope faded sharply because of the continued strong Syrian opposition.
‘We stand before the world asking for an opportunity to be left to ourselves in order to allow our democratic ways to resolve the tensions in our nation,’ Lebanese Foreign Minister Elie Salem said in an address to the 38th General Assembly.
The U.S. official said: ‘The Syrians have been very difficult for us to get along with.’