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Syria withdraws 4,000-6,000 troops
 Syria completed the first phase of its troop pullout from Lebanon on Thursday, bringing Damascus closer to meeting US and Lebanese opposition demands that it quit the neighbour it has dominated for three decades. Washington wants all Syrian troops and intelligence agents out of Lebanon to allow for free elections in May and demands the disarmament of Hizbollah. But Hizbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, said it would keep its guns to fight Israel rather than confining itself to politics as demanded by US President George W. Bush. All Syrian troops and intelligence agents in Lebanon have pulled back to eastern Lebanon or crossed into Syria under a two-stage withdrawal, a senior Lebanese security source said. "It roughly ended," he said, referring to the first phase of a pullout plan announced on March 5. "There are just some logistics left. But the people went, all of them." The source said 8,000 to 10,000 Syrian troops remained in the eastern Bekaa Valley while 4,000 to 6,000 had returned home. A joint Lebanese-Syrian committee was expected to meet in early April to discuss the future of the troops in the Bekaa, he said. Witnesses said the last two Syrian intelligence centres in the coastal city of Tripoli were completely emptied at dawn. They were among the last to be vacated in northern Lebanon. Posted by: Fred 2005-03-18 |
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