Syrians withdrawal plan agreed

Syria, under world pressure to quit Lebanon, promised yesterday to shift its troops to eastern areas this month, but the US dismissed the plan for failing to set a deadline for a full withdrawal.

The pullback would be the biggest single such move since Syrian forces intervened in Lebanon's civil war in 1976. It now has some 14,000 troops there, down from 40,000.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed the withdrawal plan in talks with his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud in Damascus.

The Syrian troops will complete their move to eastern Lebanon by March 31, said a statement after the talks. The Syrian and Lebanese military will then decide how long the Syrians stay there.

The plan means Syrian troops will be gone from most but probably not all of Lebanon before general elections due by May.

The United States considered such "half measures" unsatisfactory, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "This does not add up to Syria leaving Lebanon. Nobody has said all troops are leaving Lebanon," said a State Department official.

"We will continue to hold their feet to the fire, not accept half-measures and call a spade a spade - that is, when they make these announcements about a withdrawal that is neither complete or immediate, we will call it for what it is."

Germany, France and Britain urged Syria to move swiftly. "We expect Syria to withdraw its troops and security services completely and as quickly as possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac said in a joint statement.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said separately that Syria's move was welcome as a "first step", adding: "We expect to see rapid progress to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the whole of Lebanon" in line with a UN resolution last year.