(Christian Science Monitor) Nicholas Blanford - While Syria has staged its fourth troop redeployment from Lebanon in three years, analysts maintain that Syria will remain in Lebanon, home to about 15,000 Syrian troops. Syrian soldiers continue to man an antiaircraft position overlooking the southern end of Beirut airport. The bulk of the remaining troops are deployed in the Bekaa Valley, in the northern city of Tripoli, and in the mountains of the Christian heartland overlooking Beirut. "We have to state that Syria is occupying a country which is not part of it," Secretary of State Colin Powell told Paris-based Monte Carlo radio on Saturday. ) Correspondence: The article "UN Farce as Libya Judges Israeli Rights" by Ian Mather, as published in Scotland on Sunday, is based on a misunderstanding. On July 23-24, Israel's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Committee, a committee of 18 (supposedly) "independent experts who are persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights," not the UN Commission on Human Rights, composed of 53 states and chaired by Libya. - Andrew Srulevitch, Executive Director, UN Watch
2013-06-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive