Syria Leaves Lebanon
Syrian tanks were carted toward the border on flatbed trucks Sunday while soldiers loaded ammunition and knocked down the walls of an old base in eastern Lebanon, effectively ending a 29-year military presence by sending home all but a few troops staying for a formal farewell ceremony this week.
Under pouring rain, a convoy of 200 armored vehicles towing cannons and rocket launchers, T-52 and T72 tanks, military trucks and buses carrying more than 500 soldiers were seen heading to the Masnaa border point.
There are about 500 Syrian soldiers left in Lebanon, a senior Lebanese military officer said.
"All Syrian troops will leave Lebanon by Tuesday," the officer told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity, as is typical for military officials here.
An Associated Press reporter in the city of Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa Valley said the accelerated Syrian troop withdrawal Saturday night was delayed for a few hours by a heavy downpour, unusual for this time of year.
At their last major garrison in Lebanon, the Bekaa town of Deir el-Ahmar, Syrian soldiers burned documents, dismantled military posts and loaded ammunition on to trucks.
Syrian intelligence agents vacated their headquarters in Baalbek at noon Sunday and later the Lebanese army moved in and took over the position. Lebanese soldiers also hoisted the Lebanese flag at a vacated Syrian checkpoint in Deir el-Ahmar. A Lebanese bulldozer filled holes and trenches used by retreating Syrian soldiers in Baalbek.
With the latest Syrian pullout, the Bekaa Valley has become almost entirely clear of Syrian troops and military intelligence, witnesses said. The exception is the border town of Anjar, home of Syria's chief of military intelligence in Lebanon, where Syrian officials appeared to be going about their business as usual Sunday.
Syrian and Lebanese officials said Sunday that Syria was withdrawing all but a token force that will remain in Lebanon for a farewell ceremony Tuesday that the Lebanese Army plans to hold in a town near the border.
"Within the next few hours, all the troops will be out of Lebanon," a Syrian government official said in Damascus. "What will be left are those who will take part in the official farewell" on Tuesday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Lebanese officer said some 300 Syrian officers and soldiers will attend Tuesday's ceremony at a base in Rayak, a few miles from the Syrian border, to pay tribute to the Syrian Army's role in Lebanon. Afterward, the token Syrian force will leave and there will not be a single Syrian soldier left in Lebanon.
It was assumed that the Syrian intelligence and their chief would also withdraw by Tuesday.
The Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly as peacekeepers in the year-old civil war. After the war ended in 1990, 40,000 Syrian troops remained in Lebanon, giving Damascus the decisive say in Lebanese politics.
Syria began withdrawing from Lebanon last month following international and Lebanese pressure in the wake of the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Anti-Syrian opposition leaders accused Lebanon's pro-Syrian government and Syria of playing a role in the assassination — a charge both authorities denied.
In September 2004, when the number of Syrian troops in Lebanon stood at about 14,000, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling on Syria to withdraw all its troops and intelligence operatives.
Last week, Lebanese and Syrian officials said the remaining 1,000 troops would be gone by April 26.
The withdrawal of Syria's troops and intelligence officers will meet Syria's April 30 deadline for a full pullout and should also fulfill U.N. and U.S. demands.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week he was delaying until Tuesday the release of a report to the Security Council on Syria in Lebanon so he could confirm the full withdrawal.
The United States and Annan have been pushing for the Syrians to leave before Lebanon's parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place next month.