Syria will gradually start to pull its troops out of Lebanon but the withdrawal from its tiny neighbour would not mean the absence of a Syrian role there, President Bashar al-Assad said yesterday.
Lebanese greeted the announcement with screams of delight in central Beirut, while opposition figures in Lebanon and the European Union cautiously described the move as a positive start.
But the announcement was unlikely to satisfy Syria's most vocal critic, US President George W. Bush, who said earlier yesterday Syria must withdraw completely from Lebanon.
Assad told parliament Syrian troops would initially pull back to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and then to the border area.
"By this measure Syria would have fulfilled its commitment towards the Taif Accord and implemented (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559," he said.
The Taif Accord ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, while Resolution 1559, adopted last September by the UN Security Council at the initiative of the United States and France, calls for foreign troops to quit Lebanon.
Assad said Syria, which first deployed troops in Lebanon in 1976, would not relinquish its role in the country.
"Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon does not mean the absence of Syria's role (in Lebanon)," Assad said. "Syria's strength and its role in Lebanon is not dependent on the presence of its forces in Lebanon."
Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since intervening in its civil war in the 1970s, and it currently has about 14,000 troops there.
Assad said he agreed with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud to hold a joint meeting next week to approve the withdrawal plan.
"This is a positive start... Our hands are extended with the insistence on a timetable for the withdrawal," Lebanon's main opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said.
Christian opposition figure, former President Amin Gemayel, demanded Syria leave completely. "What is dangerous is this deployment on the borders. We have information that the Syrian army will stay in the mountain range within the Lebanese border," Gemayel said.
"This does not form the basis for a real solution to the Lebanese crisis."
Syria has come under growing Lebanese, Arab and international pressure to leave Lebanon since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri last month. Many have pointed the finger at Syria, which denies any role.
The EU said the announcement was a positive development if it was a step towards a full withdrawal and that such a move was very important for regional peace and stability.
"The withdrawal should take place as speedily and smoothly as possible," an EU spokeswoman said.
But in his weekly radio address yesterday Bush rejected Syrian plans for a partial pullout of troops from Lebanon, saying the US and French-backed UN Security Council resolution demands that "all foreign forces be withdrawn".
"A Syrian withdrawal of all its military and intelligence personnel would help ensure that the Lebanese elections occur as scheduled in the spring and that they will be free and fair," said Bush, adding that Damascus' "support for terrorism" was a big obstacle to Middle East peace.
Echoing Bush's sentiment, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said in remarks faxed to Reuters in Jerusalem that Assad's speech "constituted an evasion and not a response to" the UN Resolution.
Israel has recently launched a diplomatic offensive against its arch foe, Syria, accusing it of playing a role in a February 25 Palestinian suicide bombing that killed five Israelis at a Tel Aviv nightclub, disrupting a fragile ceasefire.
Damascus has viewed Lebanon as a strategic asset and key economic outlet for decades. Nationalists in Damascus have traditionally seen Lebanon as a rightful part of Syria sliced off by French-British colonial machinations.
Thousands of protesters, waving Lebanese flags, erupted in joy in central Beirut on Syria's announcement of a troop redeployment. Watching Assad's speech live on big screens, women wept and men screamed when they heard the Syrian leader declaring the move.
They chanted "Syria Out, Syria Out" and "Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence", as they hugged and kissed.
Thousands of Syrians gathered outside parliament in Damascus yesterday to back Assad before and during his speech.
"One, one, one, Lebanon and Syria are one," several thousand Syrians, some carrying pictures of Assad and Syrian flags, chanted outside parliament in the build-up to the address.
"Yes for wise decisions, no for foreign intervention," one of the placards carried by the crowd said. "We demand immediate (Israeli) withdrawal from Golan (Heights)," another said.
Syria has carried out five redeployments since 2000, pulling some forces to the Bekaa and some back to Syria, but has maintained forces in and around Beirut and in northern Lebanon.
Hundreds of demonstrators have kept up daily protests in central Beirut against Syrian influence.