Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouq al-Shara, says his country is doing everything necessary to pull its troops out of neighbouring Lebanon.

Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouq al-Shara, says his country is doing everything necessary to pull its troops out of neighbouring Lebanon.

Shara says Syria is doing everything necessary to implement the Taif Agreement and that it will abide by U.N. Resolution 1559 to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Faced with mounting international pressure, Syria has completed the first stage of a two-phase plan to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, pulling them back to the Bekaa Valley and withdrawing between 4,000 and 6,000 troops completely.

A Syrian-Lebanese military committee is due to meet next month to agree a timetable for the withdrawal of the remaining eight to10,000 troops.