The United Nations is to consider sending a verification team back to Lebanon after reports that Syrian intelligence may not have completely withdrawn from the country, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "We are now receiving reports that there may be elements that are still there, and we are considering the possible return of the verification team to ascertain what is going on," Annan told reporters on Thursday. A UN verification mission to Lebanon had reported on 23 May that Syria had "fully" withdrawn troops from its neighbour, in compliance with UN resolution 1559 steered through the Security Council in September by France and the United States. The mission said it had found no trace of the Syrian intelligence services but added that the clandestine nature of such agencies made it difficult to establish their complete withdrawal.