DAMASCUS STEALS AWAY:

Damascus to withdraw 5,000 from Lebanon: Syria concerned with new tone in Washington (Joseph Farah, November 10, 2003, WorldNetDaily.com)

Now that the U.S. Congress has nearly finished a bill that allows President Bush to sanction Syria for support of terrorism, Damascus will withdraw some 5,000 of its occupying troops from Lebanon in an effort to reduce the growing pressure, according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. [...]

Arab diplomatic sources said Syria has conveyed to Lebanon a decision to remove some 5,000 Syrian troops from Beirut and the central region of Lebanon. The withdrawal will probably occur over the next two weeks as Congress completes work on the legislation and sends it to President Bush to sign.

Nevertheless, Syria will still have between 30,000 and 50,000 troops in Lebanon after that pullout. The bill requires Syria to stop supporting terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, halt production of weapons of mass destruction and cut off aid to Iraqi guerrillas if it seeks to avoid sanctions. Among the penalties for non-compliance, the United States would prohibit sales to Syria of dual-use items and the president would be required to impose two of six penalties.

Those penalties are banning exports to Syria, prohibiting U.S. businesses from operating in Syria, restricting the movement of Syrian diplomats in the United States, blocking the flights of Syrian airlines to the United States, reducing diplomatic contacts with Syria and freezing Syrian assets in the United States.

Withdraw them all and we'll talk.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2003 9:54 PM