[Syrian troops redeploying in Lebanon. Read photo caption below.]

PARIS,(AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday said his army's presence in Lebanon was only temporary and that the withdrawal of the Syrian forces hinged on the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East region as a whole.

"The Syrian army entered Lebanon for a clearly defined mission; its military presence is temporary," Assad said in an interview with French state television network France 2.

"The final withdrawal date from Lebanon of the Syrian army is entirely linked to a the internal condition in Lebanon and the overall situation in the region," Assad.

According to Lebanese officials, 70 percent of Syrian soldiers based in Beirut and its suburbs, or some 7,000 men, have pulled out in a partial withdrawal begun June 14.

Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since 1976, soon after the start of the 15-year Lebanese civil war and before June 14 numbered some 27,000.

Syria, always a force to be reckoned with in Lebanon, has dominated the country's politics since then.

Assad also denied ever having made anti-Semitic comments but said the suffering of Christ resembled that of the Palestinian people.

"In my speech with the pope, I did not speak of racism but of religious values. I said that the suffering of Christ resembled the suffering of the Palestinian people," he said.

Assad had said during a visit to Syria by Pope John Paul II last month that Israel "wished to assassinate all the principles of all religions, in the same way that they (the Jews) betrayed Jesus and tried to kill the prophet Mohamed."

The comments were met with stiff criticism.

Questioned over his statement that the "racism in Israel had surpassed that of the Nazis," Assad said: "There is a difference between assimilating and comparing. To assimilate is to put things onto the same level, I just made a comparison."

He also accused the Western media of reporting comments he had never made regarding the Jews.

"I am above all a Muslism. Islam recognises the Christian and Jewish faiths, all three religions come from the same god," the president said.

Assad is due in Paris on Monday for a three-day official visit.

A leading French human rights group has said that it will file a law suit against Assad when he visits France, accusing him of "inciting racial hatred."
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PHOTO CAPTION

A Syrian soldier displays a poster of President Bashar al-Assad as he sits with his colleagues celebrating their withdrawal from the Beirut area, June 14, 2001. Syria has completed a surprise pullout of 6,000 troops from the Beirut area, Lebanese officials said June 19, 2001, ending decades of controversial military presence. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
- Jun 19 5:06 PM ET
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