UN sets out Syria pullout plans

Many Syrian intelligence officers have already been redeployed

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says he expects a full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon before elections in May.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has committed to a first phase pull-out of troops and secret agents by 1 April, according to the UN's special envoy.

Terje Roed-Larsen said a timeline for full withdrawal would be set by Lebanon and Syria by 7 April.

Syria has already moved many troops and intelligence agents back to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley or into Syria.

Syria has agreed to pull back its forces under intense international pressure and after huge protests in Beirut.

"There are just some logistics left. But the people went, all of them," a senior Lebanese security source is quoted as saying.

Elections timetable

The Lebanese source, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said 8,000 -10,000 Syrian troops and agents remained in the Bekaa valley while the rest had left the country entirely.

The sites abandoned by the Syrians have been mainly in northern Lebanon or in or near the capital, Beirut.

Witnesses said the last two Syrian intelligence centres in the northern coastal city of Tripoli were completely emptied at dawn.

I'm holding onto weapons because resistance is the best formula to protect Lebanon and deter Israeli aggression Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah

The Syrian moves bring closer the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces and the disbanding of armed militias.

Washington has been pressing Syria to implement the resolution before parliamentary elections begin in May.

However, the leader of Lebanon's main armed group, the Shia Muslim Hezbollah, dismissed repeated US calls for it disarm, most recently voiced by President George W Bush.

"I'm holding onto the weapons of resistance because I think resistance... is the best formula to protect Lebanon and deter any Israeli aggression," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a television interview on Wednesday.

I think it is short-sighted and naive of the Lebanese to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops Nabila, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Lebanon crisis: Your views

Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976 to separate warring Lebanese factions soon after the outbreak of the country's 15-year civil war.

Syria's often feared intelligence service - or mukhabbarat - has been a key arm of its political and military control over Lebanon since then.

Pressure for Syria to pull out has intensified after the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and at least 15 others in a bomb blast on 14 February.

Many Lebanese have blamed Syria and the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and intelligence services in Beirut for the bombing, despite strong denials from Damascus and Beirut.

Beirut residents have watched once-feared Syrian security staff removing furniture and pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hafez from offices and block of flats they occupied.

When one building was abandoned on Wednesday a small demonstration began with people waving Lebanese flags and pictures of Hariri, witnesses said.