Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara on Tuesday sent a message to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan informing him that Syrian forces stationed in Lebanon have fully withdrawn to their positions in Syria on 26th April 2005.
Syria’s Permanent Representative at the UN conveyed the message to the UN Secretary General and to President of the Security Council. Members of the Security Council are to get acquainted with this message.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry also called Arab and foreign accredited ambassadors in Damascus and delivered them a copy of the message in addition to popularizing the message to the Syrian diplomatic missions abroad to deliver it to the accredited states.
Earlier in the day, Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon with a farewell ceremony near their joint border, where a Syrian commander told Lebanese troops: "Brothers in arms, so long." The soldiers responded, "So long."
A commander of Lebanese soldiers then addressed his words to the Syrians, saying: "Brothers in arms, thank you for your sacrifices." His soldiers repeated, "Thank you for your sacrifices."
Gen. Ali Habib, Syria's chief of staff, said during the departure ceremony that Syrian President Bashar Assad had decided to pull out his forces because the Lebanese army had been "rebuilt on sound national foundations and became capable of protecting the state."
According to Habib, Syria had no "ambitions in Lebanon, except to protect it." By withdrawing, he said that Syria will have "fulfilled all its obligations toward" U.N. Resolution 1559, which called on it to pull out.
Lebanese army commander Michel Suleiman hailed the role of Syria's army in Lebanon, crediting it with rebuilding the army, maintaining peace among the country's 17 sects and ending the 1975-90 civil war.
He vowed to continue cooperation between the two sides in several domains, including the fight on terror. "Together we shall always remain brothers in arms in the face of the Israeli enemy," said Suleiman.
Shortly before the ceremony began, Brig. Gen. Elias Farhat, director of the Lebanese Army Orientation Department, said the Syrian withdrawal does not mean an end to Lebanese-Syrian relationship.
"The military deployment of the Syrian army is part of this relationship which links the two countries," he said.
On his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed the "depth" of the Syrian-Lebanese relations, calling for the necessity of working continuously to push relations between the two countries forwards in all fields.
Mikati said in statement that by the withdrawal of all Syrian forces from Lebanon a new political stage in the history of the Syrian-Lebanese relations will start on the basis of strong cooperation in all domains.
"All the Lebanese people admits that the efforts exerted by the Syrian army in Lebanon constituted the most prominent factor for a sensitive security stage that helped in ending the civil war in the country and re-building its political, military and security institutions," Mikati added.
