Israel on Sunday accused Damascus of being involved in terrorism and reiterated demands for a total withdrawal of Syrian troops from neighbouring Lebanon. "The Syrians are dangerous. They have always been involved in terrorist attacks on Israel on the one hand, and on Americans in Iraq on the other," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told public radio. "Syria is doing everything it can to not implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for a total withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon... The redeployment announced by (Syrian President Bashar) Assad is purely a cosmetic measure. It is unacceptable."Assad announced in parliament on Saturday the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa valley and then to the Syrian frontier but gave no timetable for the redeployments. "Assad did not breathe a word about Syrian secret agents who, in plainclothes, also occupy Lebanon," Shalom added before leaving for talks in the United States. "Lebanon has the right to be free, democratic, sovereign and independent," Shalom said. "That would be the guarantee of better relations between Lebanon and Israel, even a peace treaty." He indicated that Israel was "ready for a dialogue with Syria and has engaged in discreet contacts in this respect" but peace was impossible as long as Syria supports terrorism and protects drug trafficking in Lebanon.