Anyone else been watching this situation?
Here's a little run-down of recent events (
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28127957.htm):
-- Feb 14, 2005 - Former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri is killed by bomb in Beirut, along with 17 other people.
-- Feb 16 - At least 150,000 Lebanese turn Hariri's funeral into outpouring of public anger against Syria.
-- The United States says Syria should take Hariri's killing as cue to end its 29-year-old military presence in Lebanon.
-- Feb 21 - U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Chirac call jointly for Lebanon "free from foreign domination", ratcheting up pressure on Syria to pull its 14,000 troops out.
-- European Union joins U.S. call for international probe into Hariri's killing.
-- Feb 23 - Bush says Syria must pull its security services as well as its army from Lebanon, echoing Chirac's remarks that Syrian intelligence controls country.
-- Feb 24 - Karami says quick Syrian troop withdrawal will destabilise Lebanon.
-- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urges Syria to withdraw troops by April, ahead of his report to Security Council.
-- Lebanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad says Syrian forces will soon start redeploying to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley. Syria had said earlier it planned to withdraw troops in line with Taif Accord which ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Feb 25 - U.N. fact-finding team begins inquiries into Hariri's assassination.
-- Feb 28 - Karami announces his government's resignation amid one-day strike and anti-Syrian protests by thousands of Lebanese timed to coincide with parliament debate on Hariri's killing.
Quote:
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4305927.stm)
Earlier, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield met Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.
He said he reiterated Washington's demand that Syria comply with UN resolution 1559, passed in September, calling for the withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon.
"We want to see free and fair elections take place [in Lebanon] this spring," he said.
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