Thousands of protesters, waving Lebanese flags, erupted in joy in central Beirut today when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today announced a gradual Syrian troop pull back from Lebanon.
There was a mixed reaction in political circles with the main opposition leader, Mr Walid Jumblatt, in Lebanon calling for more detail and the Israelis saying the move is cosmetic.
Women wept and men screamed in celebration when the crowd, watching Mr Assad's speech in the Syrian parliament live on big screens, heard the Syrian leader declaring the move. They chanted "Syria Out, Syria Out" and "Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence", as they hugged and kissed.
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.
Under growing Lebanese, Arab and international pressure to quit Lebanon, Assad told parliament Syrian troops would initially pullback to the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon and then to the border area.
"Our hands are extended with the insistence on a timetable for the withdrawal" Jumblatt told Lebanon's LBC television.
Lebanese president Emile Lahoud will meet Mr Assad next week to approve the plan.
The UN adopted Resolution 1559, adopted last September, calls for foreign troops to quit Lebanon. Syria entered the country in 1976 during a civil war which began the year before. The war ended in 1990 with the signing of the Taif Accord but troops remained and the Syrian government established effective control of political and security arrangements.
Following the recent assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri's international pressure for a withdrawal built with Syria accused of having a role in the Beirut bombing.
"By this measure Syria would have fulfilled its commitment towards the Taif Accord and implemented [UN Security Council] Resolution 1559," Mr Assad said in announcing the redeployment to parliament.
Israeli Vice premier Shimon Peres described the announcement as "an evasion" of world demands for a full withdrawal. Israel has recently launched a diplomatic offensive against Syria, accusing it of playing a role in a February 25th Palestinian suicide bombing that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv.
During his speech Mr Assad said he did not expect stalled peace talks with Israel to resume any time anytime. He said the US could not be regarded as an honest broker in talks between the two countries.
Israel seized the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war, and Mr Assad insisted today: "Peace in our region will not be achieved until we regain our land."