Syria’s army and intelligence agents on Thursday completed the first phase of their pullback to eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Syria, a senior Lebanese army officer said.
The withdrawal comes ahead of Tuesday’s summit of Arab leaders in Algeria. Syrian and Lebanon agreed earlier this month that Syrian troops and intelligence agents would redeploy in the eastern Bekaa Valley or withdraw to Syria before the end of the month.
“They have finished their redeployment,” the officer told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. He refused to give further details, saying a statement will be released within 48 hours.
Of the 14,000 troops that were in Lebanon, at least 4,000 crossed into Syria in the past week and the rest remain in the Bekaa. Syrian President Bashar Assad promised to bring the troops back home in the second phase of redeployment, for which no date has been set.
Syria began the redeployment on March 8 after coming under international pressure to withdraw from Lebanon following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, which sparked weeks of anti-Syrian demonstrations.
The Lebanese opposition accused Syria and the Lebanese government of being behind the assassination. Both government have denied the charges.
