Saudis Lean on Syria to Quit Lebanon

Saudi Arabia is pressuring the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, to set a firm timetable for withdrawal of his troops from Lebanon, Arab government sources said yesterday.

Although Mr Assad told Time magazine he planned to begin the pullout within months, he is resisting a timetable. He is set to fly to Saudi Arabia to try to secure Riyadh's help over a face-saving deal.

Though initially sympathetic to Syria, the Saudis are swinging in behind the US, France and Britain - who are calling for a quick withdrawal - leaving Mr Assad increasingly isolated.

The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who is to fly to Damascus next week, is to deliver a similar message.

George Bush yesterday added his voice to a joint statement made in London on Tuesday by his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, calling for withdrawal of the troops who have been in Lebanon since 1976. "Both of them stood up and said loud and clear to Syria, 'You get your troops and your secret services out of Lebanon so that good democracy has a chance to flourish,'" President Bush said, adding that the world "is speaking with one voice when it comes to making sure that democracy has a chance to flourish in Lebanon".

The Lebanese opposition is sceptical about Mr Assad's pledge. Its leader, Walid Jumblatt, demanded that Syria gave dates for withdrawing its 15,000-strong force, and described Mr Assad's promise of leaving within the next few months as "quite vague".

Last night the opposition said it would not discuss forming a new government to replace the cabinet it ousted on Monday until Mr Assad announced a pullout.

Sources say Mr Assad wants the Arab League to call for a withdrawal at its meeting next month. Bowing to fellow Arabs, rather than the US, would be easier for Mr Assad.

But the Saudi government, still the most influential in the Middle East, is set to tell him that waiting for the meeting would take too long and he should announce a pullout before then. Riyadh is aware that UN security council resolution 1559 calls on Lebanon to be free of "foreign interference or influence" before its May election.

While the Saudis maintain that Syria is innocent until proved guilty over the killing last month of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, they are unhappy at how the pro-Syrian Lebanese authorities are conducting the inquiry.

The unwillingness of Saudi Arabia's neighbours to support Syria could be down to either a need for Riyadh and Cairo to court the US or because they feel such problems should be resolved within the region.

While it agrees with the US call for an end to Syrian troops in Lebanon, Riyadh differs over other demands, primarily that Syria should not provide a haven for the anti-Israeli groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that it sever ties with Hizbullah.