Beirut newspaper tells Syria to go

A Lebanese newspaper has denounced the Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouk Al Shara, for defending the continuing presence of Syrian soldiers in Lebanon.

Earlier this week, Mr Al Shara told an Arab television station this week that Syrian troops, which were sent in twenty-four years ago to try to stop Lebanon's civil war, were still needed to maintain stability.

The editor of An Nahar newspaper, Jibran Tueni, said Mr Al Shara's words showed that he was completely out of touch with Lebanese popular opinion. A BBC correspondent in the Middle East says that -- now that Israeli troops have left southern Lebanon -- both France and the United States have called on Damascus to withdraw, but most Lebanese doubt whether Syria will ever leave because it has vital economic links with Lebanon.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service