Syria, under world pressure to quit Lebanon, promised today 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.
The announcement, made after a meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Damascus, said Syrian troops will pull back from northern and central Lebanon to the east, near Syria's border.
Following that redeployment, military officials from both countries will decide within a month on "the size and duration of the presence of the Syrian forces" in the Bekaa Valley and establish the relationship between these forces and Lebanese authorities.
"At the end of the agreed upon duration for the presence of Syrian forces," the announcement said, "the governments of Syria and Lebanon will agree on completion of the withdrawal of the remaining Syrian forces."
Shortly after the announcement, five Syrian military trucks loaded with furniture headed east up the Lebanese mountains, apparently the first movement of the pullback. A jeep carrying a general also climbed the road toward the Dahr El-Baidar mountain pass that leads to the Bekaa.
The announcement said the redeployment to the Bekaa, with a foothold in the high central mountains, was because of the 1989 Taif Accord that outlined Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, the 1991 cooperation treaty between the two countries "and in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations and the respect for international resolutions."
The agreement did not set a specific timetable for that complete withdrawal, which could fall short of international demands that Syria completely pull its troops from its eastern neighbour. However, it stated, "The Syrian and Lebanese agree on continuing the withdrawal of Syrian Arab forces."
In Washington, the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, said all its troops will be out of Lebanon within a few months. The withdrawal will be done in two stages, he said. "We entered Lebanon to end a bloody civil war," Mr Moustapha said. "Now we are withdrawing in compliance with international law. We are giving a good example to the rest of the Middle East."
The US has called for a complete withdrawal of Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents from Lebanon before parliamentary elections scheduled for May.
The leaders of France and Germany kept up pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops and secret services from Lebanon, calling today for a full pullout "as soon as possible."
Syrian troops began packing up their positions in the Lebanese mountains. As some loaded trucks drove eastward up the mountains, at least seven empty trucks were coming down, apparently to load supplies, and two battle tanks were parked on the side of the road, pointed eastward.
Troops also were set to leave northern Lebanon and fall back to the east, but there was no sign of any movement in that region this afternoon.
In Beirut, more than 30,000 protesters gathered in Martyrs' Square to demand that Syria leave, part of a three-week long anti-Syrian campaign that led to the toppling of the pro-Syrian government last week.
Today's demonstration marked three weeks since the February 14th assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri that began a peaceful campaign against Syrian control, and the crowd later marched to the site of the bomb blast that also killed 17 others.
Anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon has soared since Mr Hariri's death, which many Lebanese have blamed on Damascus and their own country's pro-Syrian government. Both governments deny such claims.
Mr Assad insists his decision to pull back his forces - which have been based in Lebanon since the early stages of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war - is not a result of international pressure that has mounted against his government since Hariri's assassination.
Syria, backed by its troop presence in Lebanon, has dominated its smaller neighbour's politics since its civil war ended in 1990. Syria's military presence and the country's support of Lebanon's anti-Israeli Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah has angered both the US and Israel.