U.S., France boost pressure on Syria

LONDON — The United States accused Syria yesterday of playing a role in last week's deadly suicide bombing against Israel, as the Bush administration, backed by France, sought to tighten the screws on Damascus on multiple fronts.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said for the first time that the United States had "firm evidence" that a Syrian-based militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was involved in the Tel Aviv bombing Friday. It killed five Israelis and shattered an Israeli-Palestinian truce.

"The Syrians have a lot to answer for," Rice told ABC News here, where she was attending an international conference to support an eventual Palestinian state.

While some members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad had taken credit for the bombing, the Bush administration hadn't until now pointed a finger of blame at Damascus. U.S. officials declined to specify what the evidence was.

Syria is under growing international pressure after last month's assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. That event sparked popular protests that helped bring down Lebanon's Syria-backed government Monday.

Rice and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier issued a toughly worded statement yesterday demanding again that Syria withdraw its forces from Lebanon in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution. The two countries insisted that Syria withdraw not just its roughly 15,000 troops but also its extensive security and intelligence apparatus.

The statement appeared to be an attempt to pre-empt a move by Syrian President Bashar Assad to remove his troops from Lebanon or redeploy them to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley while leaving other levers of control in place.

Assad said in an interview with Time magazine, released yesterday, that the withdrawal "should be very soon and maybe in the next few months."

Middle East diplomats say Syria exercises most of its authority over Lebanon's government and security forces through pervasive networks run by Syrian military intelligence.

"They could pull all of their troops out of Lebanon, and if they kept the intelligence presence there, they would still be able to know everything of importance that was going on and be able to continue controlling key aspects of policymaking and political life," said Flynt Leverett, a Middle East expert who has worked at the White House and the CIA and is now at the Brookings Institution, a public-policy institute.

A former senior CIA officer with extensive experience in the Middle East, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that a Syrian withdrawal could create a power vacuum and new instability in Lebanon.

Syrian intelligence officers control agents in Lebanese government ministries, the army and police forces, and use rewards, intimidation and violence to ensure compliance by politicians, religious leaders, journalists and others, experts said.

Syrian intelligence officers also oversee the delivery of Iranian-supplied weapons to Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group that controls Lebanon's southern border with Israel.

According to the State Department's 2004 report on international human rights, which was released Monday, Syrian intelligence officers have shielded "supporters" from prosecution in Lebanese courts and used "informant networks and monitored telephones to gather information on their perceived adversaries."

"There were credible reports that Lebanese security forces personnel detained individuals on the instruction of Syrian intelligence agencies," it said.

Rice said the United States was talking to France and others about deploying election observers or other monitors to Lebanon to help pave the way for parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled for May.

Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that it's "inevitable" that Syrian forces will depart from Lebanon.

Syria sent its troops to Lebanon in 1976 to help quell a civil war.

Opposition leaders began considering their next moves with particular attention to applying pressure on President Emile Lahoud, whose term was extended last fall by parliament under pressure from Syria. Lahoud, a Maronite Christian, is a favorite of Syria's government and still holds significant political influence within Lebanon's power-sharing system. Despite growing calls from demonstrators for Lahoud's resignation, some opposition figures said they believe his departure could leave a potentially dangerous vacuum.

"Lahoud is almost finished," said Walid Jumblatt, the Druze parliamentary leader who has emerged as de facto head of the opposition. "But it would be better to have a new parliament with elections that would also elect a new president. We need a new president. We cannot stay like this for a couple more years."

The opposition alliance of Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim parties must make a number of critical decisions on how to engage Lahoud to ensure that an amenable cabinet takes over through parliamentary elections, which must be held before the end of May. But the alliance must do so without appearing to declare an end to the popular rebellion that is gaining momentum here and abroad.

Jumblatt said opposition leaders would gather today to decide whether to meet with Lahoud as he goes about selecting a prime minister. He said the opposition wants a "neutral government" to manage the country through the elections.

Jumblatt, a militia leader during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, has holed up in Moukhtara, in the Chouf Mountains 40 miles from Beirut, for the past week behind gates guarded by armed men. He said he fears for his safety, adding, "The time has never been more dangerous."

Jumblatt, who once supported Syrian military presence here during the Israeli occupation of a swath of southern Lebanon, has become the most strident voice in favor of Syria's withdrawal.