Syria Thursday completed the first phase of its military withdrawal from neighboring Lebanon ahead of schedule, while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for a complete pullout in May, setting a specific timetable for Damascus.
Syria has been under mounting pressure to pull its troops out of Lebanon, particularly after the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in mid-February.
Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlullah promised on Thursday in Damascus that his government would speed up the troop withdrawal.
"After the first phase of the withdrawal, the Syrian-Lebanese military committee will reach an agreement on a full pullout and the second phase will come quicker than the timetable set in the agreement," Dakhlullah told Xinhua.
"The decision of President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw from Lebanon has been implemented," he added. "The speed-up affirms Syria's good will toward the Lebanese people."
Assad announced a two-stage pullout plan earlier this month.
Lebanese army sources disclosed on Thursday that the Syrians, including army troops and intelligence agents, have roughly completed their first phase of pullback to home or Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley.
Some 4,000 Syrian troops were back to Syria and another 4,000 were withdrawn to Bekaa and there are currently 10,000 Syrian troops inside Lebanon, said the sources.
The Syrian intelligence service began withdrawing from its headquarters in Beirut on Tuesday as part of the pullout process, witnesses said.
UN chief Annan said on Thursday that he expected the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon before the Lebanese parliamentary elections in May. This has been the first time for him to set a specific timetable for Damascus.
Annan "stressed the great importance that these elections be free and fair and take place as scheduled," said a statement he issued after being briefed by Terje Roed-Larsen, his special envoy for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for withdrawing all foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding all militias and extending government control over the whole country,
Annan said he expects "the full withdrawal of all Syrian troops, including the intelligence apparatus and military assets, to take place before the Lebanese parliamentary elections."
He also urged all parties concerned to work together to safeguard the stability and national unity of Lebanon.
Larsen told reporters after the briefing that he would return to the region in the first week of April to finalize the report that Annan is to deliver to the Security Council on April 19.
He said that there was an ongoing dialogue and no conclusions had yet been reached in his talks with Syrian and Lebanese leaders on disbanding the militias, including Hezbollah.
He said the understanding he reached with Syrian President Assad involved two phases: first, the withdrawal by April 1 at the latest of all Syrian troops and intelligence assets to the eastern Bekaa Valley, with two thirds on the Lebanese side and one third in Syria; second, the convening by April 7 at the latest of a joint Syrian-Lebanese military committee to decide the precise timetable for complete withdrawal.
Larsen noted that there was now a movement of military equipment into the Bekaa Valley and "we have been observing over the last few days that intelligence offices have been closed down, including the intelligence headquarters in Beirut."
In Washington, the United States reiterated its demand for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
"The United States is of one mind with the United Nations...to see Resolution 1559 implemented. And that means, broadly speaking, creating the conditions in Lebanon for the Lebanese people to freely choose their own government and for that government to exercise sovereignty over all of Lebanon," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
Referring to Lebanon's parliamentary elections, Ereli said, "we want those elections to be free of foreign interference. We can't imagine how that could happen if there are Syrian troops and intelligence operatives still in Lebanon."