Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will deliver a speech in the parliament "on current political developments" on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported on Friday.

The president "is going to deliver a speech at the People's Assembly on Saturday afternoon during which he tackles current political developments," SANA said.

It gave no details about the speech, which had not been previously scheduled.

Syria has been under intense international pressure to end its political and military "dominance" of neighboring Lebanon and withdraw its 14,000 troops from there, since the killing last month of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

In an interview published by Time magazine on its website on Tuesday, Assad made indications, for the first time, that Syria was considering a quick total withdrawal from Lebanon.

"It should be very soon and may be in the next few months. Not after that," Assad said.

But he declined to give a definite timetable for pulling out his army, saying it depended on technical rather than political considerations.