Syria closes its intelligence base in Beirut

Lebanon: Syrian intelligence agents began evacuating their headquarters in Beirut yesterday, partially meeting a key US and …

Lebanon: Syrian intelligence agents began evacuating their headquarters in Beirut yesterday, partially meeting a key US and Lebanese opposition demand for an end to three decades of Syria's tutelage over its neighbour.

Witnesses said the Syrians were loading equipment from the headquarters in the seafront Ramlet al-Baida district on to trucks and removing pictures of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez.

Syria's often-feared intelligence presence has been a key element in its political and military influence on Lebanon since its troops first intervened early in the 1975-90 civil war.

A Lebanese security source said he expected all Syrian intelligence agents in Beirut, the north and the Mount Lebanon area overlooking the capital, to have moved to eastern Lebanon by today. He put their numbers at 150 to 200.

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For now Syrian intelligence retains its Lebanon headquarters in the Bekaa Valley town of Anjar, but the closure of the Beirut office suggests that Syrian forces have almost completed the first phase of a withdrawal from Lebanon announced 10 days ago.

Syria agreed to move its troops after the killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri on February 14th sparked fierce anti-Syrian protests in Beirut and global calls for the Syrians to leave.

President George Bush yesterday called on the Shia Hizbullah guerrilla group to prove it was not a terrorist organisation by laying down its arms and working for peace.

Hizbullah brought out hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Beirut last week in support of Syria, showing it has massive support in Lebanon. It also has members in parliament and runs charities.

About 3,000 pro-Syrian students chanting "Death to America" marched on the US embassy near Beirut yesterday, burning Israeli and American flags and denouncing what they say is Washington's interference in Lebanon.

Lebanese security sources say the Syrians will complete the first stage of their pull-out in the next couple of days. More than 4,000 soldiers returned to Syria last week, while 2,000 more were redeploying eastwards to the Bekaa Valley.

The dismantling of the intelligence headquarters and another Syrian intelligence office in Beirut coincided with a visit to Damascus by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and with efforts by Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister-designate, Omar Karami, to form a unity government to defuse the political crisis.