Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam said the ‘agreement restricted and limited Lebanon’s liberty, independence and sovereignty’ by providing for Israeli anti-guerrillas patrols in south Lebanon.
Syria said Friday it rejected the Israeli-Lebanese troop withdrawal agreement because Lebanon accepted the accord under pressure and would be forced to violate its Arab commitments.
‘The Lebanese negotiator was forced to talk under (Israeli) occupation,’ Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam said in an interview in Damascus broadcast by Beirut’s Voice of Lebanon radio.
The interview followed the return of Lebanese Foreign Minister Elie Salem to Beirut after an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Syrian officials to accept the draft agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israel has said it will not withdraw from Lebanon unless Syria agrees to do the same.
The exact text of the agreement has not been released, but Salem said he went over the entire document with Khaddam. In the interview, Khaddam said Syria found the accord objectionable from the ‘Lebanese, Syrian and Arab viewpoints.’
‘The (Israeli) occupation and the imbalance in Lebanon’s internal politics played a role in signing the agreement,’ he said. From the Syrian point of view, ‘the agreement restricted and limited Lebanon’s liberty, independence and sovereignty.’
Khaddam objected to the ‘security zone’ set up by the agreement in south Lebanon, which will be patrolled by Israeli troops, and the proposed role in the region for the militia of renegade Lebanese army Maj. Saad Haddad, who is backed by Israel.
Haddad will be ‘in charge of ruling the south,’ Khaddam said, and the agreement will ban Syria from importing military hardware through Lebanese ports.
The accord fails to acknowledge the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and absolves Israel of ‘all crimes’ it committed during its occupation, he said.
‘The first term of the agreement means a recognition of Israel and the second the end of the state of war,’ Khaddam said, reviewing the draft agreement point by point.
‘The ninth point forces Lebanon to cancel all its obligations and treaties that are against the (Israeli-Lebanese) accord,’ which Khaddam said meant ‘the end of Lebanon’s commitment’ to Arab unity on the conflict with Israel.
Khaddam said the accord forces Lebanon to forbid any action or provocations against Israel, which ‘means for example the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut can’t issue a statement against Israel.’
