Syria warned Beirut ‘all Arab states’ would be its enemy and rejected Friday the final U.S.-mediated accord to withdraw all foreign forces from Lebanon. The Lebanese parliament was undeterred and appeared set to ratify the pact.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Elie Salem said today that Syria has rejected the Israeli troop withdrawal agreement, casting serious doubt over the ability of the U.S.-mediated plan to rid Lebanon of foreign troops.
Salem held lengthy negotiations with Assad and Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam. Both reiterated Syria’s rejection of the Lebanese-Israeli troop withdrawal agreement on grounds it constituted a security risk for Syria and the Arabs, the sources said.
‘Salem took with him to Damascus a copy of the draft agreement and clarified every clause to the Syrian leadership, but they have not changed their minds. The are still against the troop withdrawal agreement,’ the source said.
‘Syria emphatically rejects’ the accord and hopes the ‘Lebanese will not be pulled over a dangerous cliff,’ President Hafez Assad said on Damascus radio after talks with Lebanese leaders failed to sway the Soviet-backed Damascus government.
‘The agreement regards any country that does not have diplomatic relations with Lebanon and Israel as an enemy. This means that Syria and all Arab states except Egypt are enemies of Lebanon and Israel,’ Assad said.
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.
