Syrian troops quit north Lebanon

The last Syrian troops in north Lebanon left for home on Friday, underlining Syria's diminishing role in its neighbour as a worsening political crisis threatened the timing of parliamentary polls due by May. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles streamed across the Syrian border after an overnight pullout. By noon the Syrians had vacated all army posts in the north, witnesses said. Some intelligence offices were evacuated, although one was still manned in the city of Tripoli, a security source said.
Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1976, early in the civil war. Their numbers have declined to 14,000 from a peak of 40,000, but they had never before abandoned the north. Syrian troops also continued to return home or move eastwards from the Beirut area in line with a phased withdrawal plan agreed this week amid intense global pressure on Damascus to lift its military and political grip on Lebanon.
It was not clear how many Syrian soldiers have gone home since the redeployment began on Tuesday.
UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, due to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Saturday, said he expected Syria to provide a firm timetable for a total troop withdrawal from Lebanon as demanded by Security Council resolution 1559.
"I'm looking forward for a good dialogue and of course I expect that we will get commitments and timetables for a full implementation of 1559," he told reporters in Amman. Larsen is expected to meet Lebanese officials on Sunday.
In Beirut, the opposition indicated it would spurn a call by reinstated pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami for a national unity government, setting the stage for a political stand-off that could force the general election to be postponed.
Lebanon's pro-Syrian cabinet fell last week after an outcry over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, but Karami was reappointed on Thursday in a move opposition leaders said would only prolong political uncertainty.
Opposition Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, visiting Moscow, said Karami's reinstatement was "a disappointment and an extension to the crisis", while a group of Christian MPs said it "shows Syria's insistence on maintaining its tutelage policy".