IV

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 190

Urging the Government of Syria to withdraw its armed forces from Lebanon.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 19, 1996

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DORNAN, Mr.

FORBES, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KING, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. LAHOOD,

Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEVIN, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCNULTY,

Ms. MOLINARI, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. TORRICELLI)

submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Urging the Government of Syria to withdraw its armed forces

from Lebanon.

Whereas Syria continues to exert undue influence upon the

Government of Lebanon, maintaining between 35,000

and 40,000 soldiers in Lebanon;

Whereas Syria has pledged publicly and privately to abide by

the Taif Agreement of 1989, which required that 2 years

after certain Lebanese political conditions were achieved

in September 1990, Syria would withdraw its armed

forces stationed in Lebanon to the gateway of the Bekaa

Valley with complete withdrawal occurring shortly thereafter;
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Whereas in Senate Concurrent Resolution 129 and House

Concurrent Resolution 339 of the 102d Congress, Congress called upon Syria to withdraw its armed forces to

the gateway of the Bekaa Valley by September 1992 in

accordance with the Taif Agreement of 1989, as a prelude to complete withdrawal from Lebanon;

Whereas in Senate Concurrent Resolution 28 of the 103d

Congress, the Senate strongly urged Syria to withdraw

its armed forces to the gateway of the Bekaa Valley without further delay and called upon the Governments of

Syria and Lebanon to agree immediately upon a firm

timetable for the complete withdrawal of Syrian armed

forces, including military, paramilitary, and security services from Lebanon;

Whereas in Senate Concurrent Resolution 28 of the 103d

Congress, the Senate called upon the Governments of

Syria and Lebanon to disarm nongovernmental armed

groups and militias in Lebanon, as required by the Taif

Agreement;

Whereas nongovernmental armed groups and militias continue to operate in Lebanon with the acquiescence and

support of the Syrian and Lebanese Governments;

Whereas recent attacks upon northern Israel were carried out

by Hizbollah, a group based in Lebanon and receiving

support from and through Damascus;

Whereas Syria did not attend the March 13, 1996, anti-terrorism Summit of the Peacemakers in Sharm el Sheikh,

Egypt, and has not participated in subsequent meetings;

Whereas the Government of Syria is currently prohibited by

law from receiving United States assistance;
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Whereas the Lebanese elections of September 1992 were held

in a climate of heavy foreign military and political domination and due to widespread electoral irregularities and

a boycott by a large percentage of the Lebanese people,

the results of the elections were not representative of the

full spectrum of the Lebanese body politic;

Whereas, according to the Lebanese constitution, new elections for the Lebanese Parliament must take place between August 15, 1996, and October 15, 1996; and

Whereas Syria exerted undue pressure upon the Lebanese

Parliament, forcing it to use extra-constitutional means

to extend the term of President Hrawi: Now, therefore,

be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) expresses its continued support for the res4 toration of sovereignty, political independence, and

5 territorial integrity of Lebanon;

6 (2) offers condolences to the families of Leba7 nese and Israeli civilians who died in recent violence

8 and supports the ceasefire ending fighting in south9 ern Lebanon;

10 (3) considers the Government of Syria in viola11 tion of its pledge to uphold the Taif Agreement of

12 1989 because it has not withdrawn its armed forces

13 from Lebanon;

14 (4) considers the Syrian troops in Lebanon an

15 occupation force;
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1 (5) demands that the Government of Syria im2 mediately declare its commitment to completely

3 withdraw its armed forces, including military, para4 military, and security services from Lebanon, and

5 set a firm timetable for such withdrawal, to be com6 pleted not later than December 31, 1997;

7 (6) recognizes the public Israeli commitment to

8 withdraw its armed forces from the ‘‘security zone’’

9 in southern Lebanon once security conditions per10 mit;

11 (7) will not accept Syria’s continued hegemony

12 over Lebanon and rejects linking the Syrian pres13 ence there to Israeli-Syrian negotiations or to an Is14 raeli-Syrian peace agreement;

15 (8) while reaffirming the continued applicability

16 of all existing prohibitions, restrictions, limitations,

17 and directives that otherwise apply to Syria—

18 (A) urges the President to withhold any

19 future United States assistance to Syria until

20 Syria withdraws its armed forces from Leb21 anon; and

22 (B) urges the President to direct United

23 States executive directors of all international fi24 nancial institutions, such as the International

25 Monetary Fund and the International Bank for
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1 Reconstruction and Development, to oppose fu2 ture loans or assistance to Syria until Syria

3 withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon;

4 (9) strongly urges the Government of Syria to

5 cooperate with ongoing international efforts to curb

6 terrorism and holds the Government of Syria respon7 sible for all terrorist acts planned, trained for, fi8 nanced, or initiated in Syria or Lebanese territories

9 under its occupation;

10 (10) demands that Syria prevent Hizbollah and

11 other terrorist groups from launching attacks on Is12 rael from areas of Lebanon under its occupation;

13 (11) urges the Government of Lebanon to initi14 ate serious negotiations with the Government of

15 Syria for the withdrawal of Syrian armed forces

16 from Lebanon, the disarming of all remaining non17 government paramilitary groups, and the redeploy18 ment of Lebanese armed forces to all areas of Leb19 anon in order to assert the sovereignty of the Leba20 nese state over all of its territory, which would then

21 facilitate lifting the ban on travel of United States

22 citizens to Lebanon;

23 (12) urges the Government of Lebanon to enter

24 into serious bilateral negotiations with the Govern25 ment of Israel in order to agree on mutual security
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1 arrangements and realize a full and permanent

2 peace;

3 (13) strongly urges the Government of Lebanon

4 to prosecute to the full extent of the law all individ5 uals responsible for crimes against United States or

6 foreign diplomats and citizens;

7 (14) urges the Government of Lebanon to hold

8 the parliamentary elections on time and to ensure

9 that such elections are conducted in a free and fair

10 manner by enacting fair and uniform electoral laws,

11 allowing reasonable time for declaring candidacy,

12 permitting the timely return of expatriated or exiled

13 leaders wishing to participate in the elections, not

14 restricting freedom of speech or movement, ensuring

15 the neutrality of Lebanese and non-Lebanese armed

16 forces, and allowing international and domestic ob17 server units to monitor the elections;

18 (15) expresses its support for ongoing British

19 and French efforts to secure free and fair inter20 nationally monitored parliamentary elections in Leb21 anon and encourages similar efforts by United

22 States governmental and nongovernmental agencies;

23 (16) requests that the Secretary of State report

24 to the Committee on International Relations of the

25 House of Representatives and the Committee on
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1 Foreign Relations of the Senate on the results of the

2 Lebanese elections and every 6 months thereafter on

3 Syrian efforts to withdraw its forces from Lebanon;

4 and

5 (17) requests the Secretary of State to transmit

6 a copy of this resolution to the Government of Leb7 anon and the Government of Syria.

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