 DOHA - Syria insisted on Wednesday it had fully withdrawn from Lebanon despite US accusations that intelligence agents remained in the country. "I assure you that we don't have any ... security individuals, or military individuals. We have Syrians who are visiting Lebanon because 30 percent of the families of those countries are related," Moalem told Reuters on the sidelines of a Group of 77 summit of developing countries in Qatar.
| "And they're all members of the, um, Syrian-Lebanese friendship society. Yeah, that's it." |
"Now, if you consider pressure or not, we fulfilled what was concerning Syria on Security Council Resolution 1559. Because we need to give a message to the Security Council, to the U.N., that only through fulfilling Security Council resolutions can stability in the region be achieved," he said.
The United Nations is checking reports Syria may still have intelligence agents in Lebanon.
| Oh boy, do we assign Hans Blix or Carla del Ponte to this one? |
Asked if Syria believed it could satisfy Washington's demands, Moalem said: "It's up to them, nobody can predict what they want ... We have no dialogue with them -- they have their own policies, we have our own.
| "And ours aren't looking so good right now!" |
"What we say is the only civilised way is to tackle this gulf that exists between Syria and the United States through dialogue between two equal states and for mutual interest."
The United States has kept up pressure on Damascus since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon. "We are ready, but you need two to dance," Moalem said, commenting on whether Damascus was prepared to boost ties with Washington. |