Global Policy Forum

A United Nations team began an inquiry in Beirut on Friday into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, blamed by the Lebanese opposition on Syria. The UN Security Council, angered by the February 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 17 others, had asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan to report urgently on "the circumstances, causes and consequences of the assassination."

Lebanon's Syrian-backed government has rejected calls for an international investigation committee into the killing but has pledged to cooperate with the UN mission. The head of the three-member UN team, Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, told reporters in Beirut he vowed "absolute impartiality and professionalism." "I look forward to working closely with the Lebanese authorities, and to learning about their progress in investigating this terrible crime," he said. "We will also seek to speak to others who might assist us to fulfil our mandate."

The Lebanese authorities, which have released few details, have launched their own investigation but have sought Swiss expertise in DNA testing and explosives. Lebanon's opposition figures blame Syria and its allies in Lebanon for the killing of Hariri, a billionaire businessman who enjoyed strong ties to several world leaders.

The killing intensified pressure on Syria to end its dominating role in Lebanon. Damascus announced Thursday it was planning to pull back its troops towards the border in line with the Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.

But the move, which Lebanese officials said excluded the feared intelligence service, falls short of demands by the United States and France - as well as a Security Council resolution - for a total withdrawal.

Syria said preparing to redeploy troops in Lebanon Syria was preparing Friday to redeploy its troops in Lebanon toward the border, Lebanese officials told the AFP news agency. Syria said Thursday it would withdraw its troops to eastern Lebanon, in a move designed to allay mounting world calls for Damascus to remove all its forces from its western neighbor. However, neither country gave an official timeframe for the withdrawal.

Nonetheless, a pullback could start as early as Saturday, said one senior Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Lebanese Defense Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad, meanwhile, told AFP on Thursday afternoon that Syrian troops would move into the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria "within hours."

But it was unclear if such an action would lead to a full withdrawal. In the past, Syria has redeployed its troops in Lebanon in ways that seemed to indicate a pullout was in the works, while continuing to keep its troops in Lebanon and reinforcing Syria's dominant role in Lebanese politics. "The decision to withdraw has been taken," Murad told the local New TV channel Thursday. "What remains is the exact timing."

Murad said Lebanese and Syrian military officers were meeting to define "the dates and the way" of the withdrawal. The two governments indicated the Syrian troops would not leave Lebanon at this stage, and made clear the withdrawal toward the Lebanese-Syrian border would be on their own terms. They said the withdrawal would be in accordance with the 1989 Taif agreement that provides for Syrian soldiers to be stationed in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.

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