Syria withdrew its last soldiers and intelligence agents from Lebanon today, ending a 29-year military presence in its small neighbour.
As the Syrian troops crossed the frontier in green buses, many Lebanese hailed their departure as the start of a new era, but analysts said Damascus would remain influential.
"With the completion of the Syrian forces' withdrawal from Lebanon, a new political era in the relations between the two brethren countries starts based on close cooperation in all fields," Lebanon's new Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
Syria told the United Nations it had completed its pullout from Lebanon in line with Security Council resolution 1559.
Syria "would like to officially inform you that the Syrian Arab forces stationed in Lebanon, at the request of Lebanon and under an Arab mandate, have fully withdrawn all their military, security apparatus and assets," Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said in a letter to the world body.
Syrian forces entered in 1976 to try to end Lebanon's civil war which began the previous year. But the conflict did not end until 1990. At different times, Syrian forces had fought Muslim and Christian militias, Lebanese army units, Palestinian guerrillas and the Israeli army.
Pro-Syrian Lebanese officials say 12,000 Syrian soldiers were killed in Lebanon and many more wounded.
The Syrians dominated Lebanon after the civil war, incurring little serious international opposition until a UN Security Council resolution in September demanded their withdrawal.
The February 14 assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, blamed by many Lebanese on Damascus, triggered large anti-Syrian protests in Beirut and an outcry abroad.
That prompted President Bashar al-Assad to announce on March 5 that he would bring his forces home. The withdrawal, involving about 14,000 troops, took about seven weeks to complete.
"We are very happy, we are celebrating," said Khaled Saleh, 24, a computer consultant. "I have been asking for this all my life." A score of young Lebanese men performed the traditional dabke dance in celebration as the Syrians were leaving.
Analysts say the withdrawal will end Syria's domination of Lebanon but not end its influence altogether.
"Definitely there will be a reduction in Syrian involvement in internal Lebanese affairs. They will no longer select high-ranking officials," Samir Baroudi, a political scientist at Beirut's Lebanese American University, said.
"There will continue to be high-level coordination between the two countries as far as bilateral economic relations and the overall peace process in the Middle East."