Syrian President defends his country's role in Lebanon

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 11:26 am

By: News On 6

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) _ Pointing to Lebanon as a stable exception in a troubled neighborhood, President Bashar Assad has suggested an end to Syrian intervention in Lebanon would lead to chaos there.

Assad, addressing a conference of expatriate Syrians in Damascus on Saturday, rejected accusations his country seeks to dominate its smaller neighbor. He described a U.N. resolution calling for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon ``blatant interference'' in Lebanon's internal affairs.

``We have no interest in such domination,'' Assad said.

On Sept. 2, the U.N. Security Council narrowly adopted a U.S.-French resolution calling for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the election of a new Lebanese president according to the constitution.

The following day, apparently under Syrian pressure, Lebanon's parliament voted to extend President Emile Lahoud's term until 2007, beyond the constitutional maximum in defiance of the U.N. resolution.

Assad said the resolution had nothing to do with extending Lahoud's mandate and was ``ready a long time ago.''

The aim of the U.N. resolution, he said, was to damage Lebanon-Syrian relations and put pressure on both countries.

Assad said Lebanon and Syria were two of the most stable countries in the region, suggesting a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon would destabilize that country. ``Do they want to throw this region, with no exception, in the heart of lava inside the volcano?'' he asked.

Syria sent troops to Lebanon in 1976 to help quell a sectarian civil war, then just a year old. The troops, at times numbering over 35,000, remained after the war ended in 1990 and Syria has since become the undisputed power broker in Lebanon with a strong say in appointments and candidates.

Opposition groups in Lebanon long have called for an end to Syria's dominance and interference in domestic affairs. Although Assad said Lebanon has no natural resources to be coveted, the country remains strategically important for Syria as a playing card in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Assad also denied what he said were media reports that Syria has held secret peace talks with Israel, saying his country wants to negotiate publicly with the Jewish state. It was not clear what reports he was referring to.

``For us, the peace process would never be anything but public,'' he said. He said if the Israelis prefer to hold secret talks, they are ``thinking that the negotiations are a crime or a disgraceful act.''

Since taking office in July 2000 following the death of his father, President Hafez Assad, Bashar Assad has said Syria is ready to resume peace talks with Israel.

He insists they begin where they left off when negotiations collapsed in 2000, when Israel offered to withdraw from most of the Golan Heights. Israel has since annexed the strategic plateau.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rebuffed Assad's offers to resume talks, saying Syria must first expel militant Palestinian groups based in Damascus and rein in Hezbollah guerrillas along the Lebanon-Israel border.