Many Syrians say troops must leave Lebanon

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — One week ago Hind Aboud took the two-hour drive from Damascus to Beirut to pay her respects to Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister who was assassinated last month. On his grave she placed photos of two of Syria's most sacred monuments — the Umayyid mosque and St. Paul's church — and left what she called a letter from all Syrians.

"Hariri is not only for the Lebanese, but he is for the Syrians as well," says Aboud, a Syrian lawyer who works in Damascus and considers Hariri a role model for all Arabs.

Syrians share a special affinity to the Lebanese because of strong historical, family, and business ties: A large portion of the Syrian and Lebanese population have relatives living across the border.

But many Lebanese blame Syria for Hariri's murder, and many of the Syrians interviewed say they are feeling resentful, isolated, and fearful of the growing anti-Syrian sentiment. As international pressure mounts for Syria to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon, many here agree that it's time for their troops to go.

"We helped the Lebanese, and we stood by them as a neighboring country, and now they are practicing their full freedom and democratic right by asking us to leave," says Aboud.

In the first two weeks after Hariri's death, the Syrian government remained relatively silent in the face of mounting calls from the Lebanese street and from the U.S. and France for Syria to quit Lebanon. But according to Joshua Landis, a specialist on Syria now residing in Damascus, the mood in Damascus relaxed this week as Syria's President Bashar Assad spoke with the European and U.S. press about withdrawing from Lebanon.

"There has been great relief in the last few days, ever since the president came out of the palace and began to really address the issue of Lebanon," Landis said. "His speech to parliament (Wednesday) was very reassuring. He said that Syria is going to get out of Lebanon in a few months, unequivocally."

Syria says it is searching for an "Arab" solution to the international calls for Syria to release its political and military grip on Lebanon by focusing on implementing the 1989 Taif Accord, which ended the civil war in Lebanon and calls for a gradual withdrawal of Syrian troops. Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since the mid-1970s.