BEIRUT- Syria began Thursday the final phase of a troop pullout ending a 29-year military presence in Lebanon, as consultations for a new cabinet to oversee long-awaited parliamentary elections gathered momentum.

While the remaining Syrian troops officially began their final return home, Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah vowed that the pullout would be completed before an April 30 deadline.

"The Syrian pullout may take place well before the end of the month, just as it did for the first phase that was due to end at the end of March and actually wrapped up in the middle of the month," Dakhlallah was quoted as saying.

A senior Lebanese commander said the final phase had begun for the remaining 8,000 troops in the eastern Bekaa Valley where Syria has pulled back all its remaining forces.

"They have a timetable for the withdrawal and they will keep pulling out, unit by unit," he told AFP. "The process involves all army troops and intelligence forces."

On the ground, dozens of empty Syrian trucks and transport vehicles were seen crossing into Lebanon apparently to take back troops, equipment and weapons, an AFP correspondent said.

Troops destroyed military shelters in two important bases in the central villages of Marj and Makseh, while special forces were evacuating a position further south in Aayha.

A convoy of 14 military vehicles carrying troops, arms and ammunition were seen heading to the Syrian border.

Scores of Syrian agricultural labourers, many of them installed in the Bekaa Valley for years, were also packing their bags ready to pull out with the withdrawing troops, following a spate of attacks on Syrians in Lebanon in
recent weeks.

"No one told us to leave, we're doing it of our own free will," said Abu Khaled 45, as he prepared to leave the Majdel Anar area.

"Some of us have been here for 14 years," said fellow Syrian Rakan Barkawi as he gathered together his meagre belongings.

Under pressure, Syria agreed to end its military presence in Lebanon by the end of April in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for an immediate pullout of all foreign troops.

UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen ended Thursday a three-day trip to Beirut where he stressed the need to hold elections on time by the end of May to avoid further instability.

Lebanon has been thrown into political turmoil since the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, blamed by the opposition on the pro-Syrian regime and their political masters in Damascus.

The UN Security Council was likely to vote Thursday to set up an international inquiry into Hariri's assassination -- a key demand of the Lebanese opposition.

A UN fact-finding report has already pointed the finger at Syria over creating the tensions that led to the killing of Hariri, who spoke out against Syrian dominance of his country.

The assassination sparked mass street protests that led to the resignation of the government in a jittery Lebanon which has since witnessed four bomb blasts in Christian areas that killed three civilians.

On Wednesday, Roed-Larsen said the elections in Lebanon were "the most important instrument to safeguard the stability of the country" and echoed US demands for Beirut and Damascus to exchange embassies.

Syria's role in Lebanon has been at the core of internal divisions here where political wrangling continues over the formation of a new government and the electoral law for the elections.

A day after a surpise visit to see powerful pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabih Berri, prominent opposition leader MP Walid Jumblatt met late Wednesday with prime minister-designate Omar Karameh.

"We have to find a compromise... to guarantee internal independence and special relations with Syria," Jumblatt said.

"The only way out is to hold the elections" by the end of May as planned, he said.

Karameh, who has so far failed to bring the opposition into a national unity cabinet, was quoted in the Beirut press as saying he might announce a new government by Saturday.

Copyright © 1999-2005 Lenanonwire^®.com. All rights reserved.