Ceremony marks Syrian pullout from Lebanon

updated 2:32 p.m. ET April 26, 2005

RAYAK, Lebanon - Syria ended its 29-year military domination of Lebanon on Tuesday as soldiers flashing victory signs completed a withdrawal spurred by intense international pressure and massive Lebanese street protests against a force that once numbered 40,000.

Less than three hours after the last soldiers were seen leaving, Syria informed the United Nations that its troops had left Lebanon.

At a farewell ceremony at Rayak, a few miles from their shared border, a Syrian commander told Lebanese troops: “Brothers in arms, so long,” and the Lebanese soldiers responded, “So long.”

'Thank you for your sacrifices'
A Lebanese commander then addressed the Syrians, saying: “Brothers in arms, thank you for your sacrifices.” His soldiers repeated, “Thank you for your sacrifices.”

About 250 Syrian soldiers in red berets and camouflage, the last troops to leave Lebanon, shouted: “We sacrifice our blood and our souls for you, oh Bashar!” in a reference to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

After the ceremony, the Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Rustom Ghazali joined 10 carloads of intelligence agents and the remaining 250 soldiers in crossing the border point of Masnaa, followed by scores of troops guarding the road to the ceremony.

At the crossing, about 25 Lebanese civilians saluted Ghazali, who got out of his car and accepted a poster from a Lebanese man that said: “Thank you Syria.”

A hero's welcome home
On the Syrian side, hundreds waved flags and danced in the streets at the Jedeidit Yabous crossing point. They climbed on buses carrying the returning troops and chanted, “God, Syria and Bashar only!”

“I’m so happy they’re back,” said Noura Sabbagh, 16, who was carrying a red rose that she hoped to give to a soldier.

The Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly as peacekeepers in Lebanon’s year-old civil war. After the war ended in 1990, about 40,000 Syrian troops remained, giving Damascus the decisive say in Lebanese politics.

But international pressure and Lebanese anger over the Feb. 14 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri in a Beirut car bombing helped turn the tide against Syria’s presence, and Damascus pulled out its remaining 14,000 troops during the past two months.

The opposition blamed Hariri’s killing on the Lebanese government and its Syrian backers, accusations both governments deny. Huge “Syria Out” demonstrations in Beirut brought down the pro-Syrian government, and U.N. and U.S. pressure intensified until Damascus withdrew its army.

U.N. formally notified
Lebanon’s new prime minister, Najib Mikati, is a compromise candidate between the pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian political camps. The Cabinet, whose sole purpose is to prepare the country for elections that are supposed to be held by May 31, went to Parliament on Tuesday seeking a vote of confidence.

Just hours after the withdrawal was completed, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a letter that “all Arab Syrian forces have returned to Syria,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Annan said a U.N. team was sent to Lebanon to verify Syria’s claim and to check whether all Syrian intelligence agents had left as well.

In a report released Tuesday, Annan said Syria may have withdrawn all its troops from Lebanon, but a U.N. Security Council demand that Lebanon disarm the militant group Hezbollah still had not been met.

He also cautioned Lebanon against delaying parliamentary elections.

“Such a delay would contribute to further exacerbating the political divisions in Lebanon and threaten the security, stability and prosperity of the country,” Annan said.

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