BEIRUT - Lebanon’s Western-backed ruling coalition, also known as the March 14 forces, on Friday marked the third anniversary of the Cedar Revolution which led to the pullout of Syrian troops after former premier Rafiq Hariri’s assassination.

"Damascus must stop treating Lebanon as if it is a district of Syria," Fares Suaid, a key coalition figure, told around 2,500 people at a conference in Beirut to mark the anniversary.

The Lebanese state has the sole right to possess military force and that the army should be commanded by a single authority, and "not two different authorities, the authority of the Lebanese state and the authority of a foreign country," he said

Suaid, who read the document at a news conference, called for turning a new page in the relations with Syria by normalizing ties with the regime in Damascus.

This requires that Syria announce the independence of Lebanon, respect the sovereignty of Lebanon through opening of embassies and demarcation of borders, said Suaid, as well as to stop dealing "with Lebanon as if it is a province."

The document called for establishing a new phase between the Lebanese and Palestinian people, commencing Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue, banning the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by urging them to return to their homes.

The weapons carried by the Palestinians living in Lebanon should be controlled by the Lebanese state, said Suaid.

He said that national unity was the sole mean to strengthen independence and construction of the modern democratic state on the basis of the Taef Accord.

Suaid said the resistance was a backup for the Lebanese people to strengthen the power of the state.

The document also underlined that Israel and Iran "are trying to control the destiny of Arabs and that Israel is providing international protection for the Syrian regime."

Following suit, MP Sameer Al-Jesr said the revolution that took place on March 14 2005, had "ejected the (Syrian) regime, holding free elections and formed a government which worked on the establishment of an international tribunal to try killers of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The members of the March 14 forces are holding a general convention discussing the Taef Accord, which was signed in Saudi Arabia in 1989, the relations between Lebanon on one hand with Syria, Palestine, Iran and the world on the other.

According to organizers, the convention entitled "Spring of 2008" will try to define the coalition's political objectives, a feature that has been largely absent from Lebanese politics - both before and after the Syrian withdrawal.

According to Lebanese political observers, the March 14 convention will allow the movement to "present a comprehensive political platform, unify their ranks, and begin operating on the basis of ideas and policies, rather than individuals, while further demonstrating the seriousness of the idea behind the movement."

The March 14 coalition came into existence in the wake of the assassination of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast at a seafront area of Beirut along with 20 other people on February 14, 2005.

One month after Hariri’s murder in a massive seafront bomb blast on February 14, 2005, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut in protest at Syria’s role in Lebanon.

The protests combined with international pressure led Syria to withdraw from its smaller neighbour in April 2005, putting an end to its 29-year military and political domination of Lebanon.

Anti-Syrian critics accuse Damascus of being behind the assassination of the billionaire businessman and claim Syria is to blame for the current political deadlock over the election of a new Lebanese president. Damascus has consistently denied such charges.

The 2005 anti-Syrian rallies threw into sharp relief the divide between Lebanon’s Western-backed groups and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is supported by Syria and Iran.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since November when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his mandate. The country’s pro- and anti-Syrian camps have since failed to elect a successor in parliament.

Sixteen parliamentary sessions have failed to break the impasse and a new session is scheduled for March 25, just days before an Arab summit in the Syrian capital.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt accuse Syria of blocking the election and provoking Lebanon’s worst political crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. -With Agencies