Syrian forces complete first phase of withdrawal

Damascus has completed the first phase of the withdrawal plan by pulling out its forces to the Bekaa plain, in the east of Lebanon, and pulled out more than one third of its forces deployed there into inside the Syrian territories.

A high ranking Lebanese security source said that some 2000 Syrian soldiers pulled out from east Lebanon during the few past days and the Syrian forces evacuated military equipments from the Lebanese Tallat Shaath area, to minimize therefore its forces in Lebanon to the lowest level during the past 30 years.

The Lebanese security source added that small units in the Bekaa plain returned back to Syria left behind a contingent of the Syrian army positioned in the area in addition to scores of intelligence members, while the Syrian forces were pulled out from 12 positions in the Bekaa valley by the beginning of the week.

However, a Syrian- Lebanese military committee will be meeting next week to draw a schedule for the withdrawal of the remaining forces. The Lebanese sources indicated that the total withdrawal period was reduced from two months to 20 day as from last Wednesday at the request of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.