BEIRUT - The Syrian army completed on Thursday the first stage of its withdrawal from Lebanon, a pullback of 8,000 troops to the east of the country, a Lebanese military source told AFP. Syrian troops and intelligence services have now evacuated north Lebanon as well as the capital Beirut and positions they held in the mountains that overlook the city, the source said.
According to the source, 8,000 military personnel were involved in this first phase of the pullout. Half of these have been pulled back to the Bekaa valley on the border with Syria while the other half have been withdrawn into Syria itself.
| Maybe to take sides in the supposed coup? |
Before the pullback began, Syria was believed to have 14,000 troops in Lebanon and an unspecified number of brownshirts intelligence personnel. |