U.S. to Damascus: Lebanon Off Limits

U.S. to Damascus: Lebanon Off Limits

U.S. and Lebanese officials were quoted Friday as saying there would be no Syrian military intervention in Lebanon irrespective of fears sparked by the deployment of Syrian troops off Lebanon”s northern borders.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch reportedly relayed a "strong and clear message to Syria”s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem that the United States categorically rejects any Syrian attempt to use the Damascus and Tripoli blasts as pretexts to intervene militarily in Lebanon," the daily An-Nahar reported in a Washington-datelined dispatch.

Welch also enquired about the reason for Syria”s "provocative" deployment of troops off Lebanon”s northern borders.

"The international community is united in rejecting any flagrant Syrian intervention in Lebanon," Welch reportedly told Muallem.

He emphasized on the fact that UNSCRs 1559 and 1701 "remain part of the basic elements of the United States policy on Lebanon," Welch reportedly added.

Muallem, according to the report, "informed Welch that his government is aware of that and has no intention of intervening militarily in Lebanon."

Meanwhile, Lebanese political and ministerial sources told An-Nahar the international agenda that dominated the situation in Lebanon since adoption of UNSCR 1559 in Sept. 2004, which called for withdrawal of the Syrian Army from Lebanon, "has not changed."

"There is no possibility for developing any domestic or international concept that permits the return to Syria”s involvement in Lebanon," the sources said.

Concluding a new security agreement between Lebanon and Syria is not in the cards, An-Nahar quoted the sources as stressing.