Global Policy Forum

The last few hundred Syrian troops remaining in Lebanon attended a farewell ceremony today to mark the end of Syria's 29-year military involvement in the country. Analysts said the ceremony provided Syria with an opportunity to put a positive spin on a withdrawal that comes after heavy Lebanese and international pressure.

The ceremony, four days earlier than expected, was held with Lebanese troops at an army air base at Rayak, a few miles from the Syrian border in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Only a token Syrian force of about 300 special forces soldiers remained in the country for the ceremony, compared with a force of 14,000 only two months ago.

Syria first entered Lebanon ostensibly as peacekeepers in 1976, a year after civil war had broken out. A peak of around 40,000 Syrian troops were in the country after the conflict ended in 1990, helping Damascus maintain political hegemony there. The troop levels started to be scaled back in 2000 but pressure for a full withdrawal increased after the assassination - blamed on Syria - of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February this year.

Today, as military honours were read out, the Syrian soldiers shouted chants supportive of the Syrian president, Bashar Assad. Wearing red berets and camouflage and holding their AK-47 rifles to their chests, the soldiers shouted, "We sacrifice our blood and our souls for you, oh Bashar!" and "Long live Bashar!". The ceremony opened with Lebanese and Syrian military commanders placing a wreath of flowers at a cornerstone they laid for a monument that will commemorate the Syrian military presence in Lebanon.

Shortly before the ceremony began, one Lebanese general, Brigadier General Elias Farhat, said the Syrian withdrawal did not mean an end to the Lebanese-Syrian relationship. "The military deployment of the Syrian army is part of this relationship which links the two countries," he said. Brig Gen Farhat pointed to the 1991 Lebanese-Syrian Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination Treaty, which calls, among other things, for the two countries to work together closely on security and defence matters, fighting sabotage, espionage and preventing any hostile activity against any country.

At the ceremony, medals were exchanged between the Syrians and the Lebanese, with recipients including Major General Rustum Ghazaleh, the Syrian intelligence chief who was once the most feared man in Lebanon. Yesterday, Syrian intelligence abandoned the Bekaa town of Anjar, Maj Gen Ghazaleh's former headquarters and what had been a stark symbol of Damascus' power. It was from Anjar that Syria influenced policy in Lebanon, including choosing who ran for office, who became a cabinet minister and who was arrested.

After the Syrian withdrawal, Lebanese troops took over the vacated positions in Anjar, apparently to prevent a repeat of celebrations by residents and anti-Syrian activists who, after other evacuations, have quickly swept in with Lebanese flags and paint to erase Syrian military symbols. Hundreds of Syrian troops left the country over the weekend after burning documents, demolishing walls and filling bunkers. As the withdrawal neared completion, Major General Jamil Sayyed, the most powerful Lebanese security chief, also announced his resignation, citing the "changing political developments".

Today in the Lebanese capital Beirut, there was a protest outside parliament by relatives of Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian prisons. The protesters scuffled with the army and beat politicians' cars with the Lebanese flag. Two protesters were seen being loaded into an ambulance while two others received first aid. The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, yesterday dispatched a team to verify whether Syria had withdrawn all its troops from Lebanon, as it promised to do under an agreement with the UN. The verification team will be led by Senegalese Brigadier General Mouhamadou Kandji.

Another UN team of logistic and communications experts will arrive in Beirut later this week to lay the groundwork for an investigation into Hariri's assassination. Anger over the assassination helped turn the tide against Syria's presence in Lebanon. The opposition blamed the murder on the Lebanese government and its Syrian backers, accusations both governments deny. Huge "Syria Out" demonstrations in Beirut brought down the pro-Syrian government.

In recent months, UN and US pressure had intensified on Damascus to withdraw its army, and finally Syria's government set an April 30 deadline for all the troops to be out.

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