Syria withdraws from north Lebanon

The Syrian forces on Friday withdrew from its the last and main position in north Lebanon near the Syrian borders, while these forces accelerate withdrawal from the mountain overlooking Beirut, at a time when the pace of international pressure increased on Damascus. This coincided with demonstrations in Lebanon in support of Syria, at the support of the Hizbullah party.

A senior Lebanese army officer said that the Syrian soldiers left on Friday at noon the most important position in the north in al-Qlei'at airport, three kilometers from the Syrian borders, noting that three quarters of the Syrian forces positioned in the heights overlooking Beirut left their positions. He explained that the evacuation of these forces was delayed for a time because of the bad weather conditions..

Convoys composed of trucks transporting artillery and tank parts took Beirut- Damascus road especially Dahr al-Baidar at the height 1600meters heading towards the Bekaa and Syria.

On Thursday evening, the Syrian forces withdrew from positions in Dahr al-Baidar which overlooks Beirut. In north Lebanon, the Syrian soldiers continued dismantling their positions while trucks were heading towards Syria taking Akkar road which adjoins the Syrian borders.

The Lebanese defense minister Abdul Rahim Murad indicated that 6,000 Syrian soldiers are involved in this phase of withdrawal from left north Lebanon and the mountain towards Syria and the Bekaa plain and this will take between one week and ten days.

This measure also includes the Syrian intelligence including the headquarters of its leadership in Beirut, according to a senior Lebanese military official who asked to be anonymous.