A Lebanese protester raises the country's flag near the Syrian intelligence offices in Beirut, March 15, 2005. Syrian intelligence agents began evacuating their headquarters in Beirut on Tuesday, partially meeting a key U.S. and Lebanese opposition demand for an end to three decades of Syrian tutelage over its neighbor.(Photo: Reuters/China Daily) 

Syrian intelligence units have started to leave Beirut in a further step toward ending Syria's military presence in Lebanon. The move came a day after close to a million people rallied in central Beirut to demand a complete pullout of Syrian troops.

Up until recently, Syria had 14,000 troops in Lebanon but has stated withdrawing its forces amid intense international pressure.
On Tuesday, Syrian Ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, said that the 10,000 Syrian troops still in Lebanon would be withdrawn across the border.

"Our intention is very clear, we want to withdraw from Lebanon as soon as possible, the sooner the better. But, we don't want to do this in a way to create a certain vacuum in Lebanon that might be used by any element that can create some destabilisation or some chaos in Lebanon."

Moustapha also defended the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as a grass-roots political movement and invited the US administration to help it evolve into a "purely political movement."

"This is a historical opportunity for the United States to stop repeating Israeli propaganda about Hezbollah and try to understand it is a national liberation movement that fought the Israeli occupation."

Meanwhile in Washington, US President George W. Bush called for disarmament by Hezbollah and opened up the possibility of accepting it as part of the political mainstream.

In a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Bush criticized Hezbollah for derailing the Middle-east peace process by launching attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon.

"We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they're not by laying down arms and not threatening peace."

Hezbollah is considered a legitimate resistance movement in Lebanon.

It led the guerrilla war against Israel's 18-year presence in part of its territory and showed its political influence in recent weeks, by drawing hundreds of thousands of people to central Beirut for two pro-Syria rallies.