Syria bowed to international pressure and ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon today, its troops waving and flashing victory signs as they crossed the border after an emotional farewell ceremony.

The ceremony at an air base near the border saw a Syrian commander tell Lebanese troops: "Brothers in arms, so long." The soldiers responded, "So long."

Then a Lebanese commander addressed the Syrians, saying: "Brothers in arms, thank you for your sacrifices." His soldiers repeated, "Thank you for your sacrifices."

After the hour-long ceremony, the Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon, Major-General Rustom Ghazali, and ten carloads of intelligence agents crossed into Syria at the border point of Masnaa. The last 250 Syrian troops in Lebanon, who had participated in the ceremony at the nearby Rayak air base, as well as scores of Syrian soldiers who guarded the road to the ceremony, left close behind.

At the Syrian crossing point of Jedeidit Yabous, hundreds of Syrians waved flags, danced in the streets and climbed on the buses carrying the troops as they chanted: "God, Syria and Bashar only," referring to President Bashar Assad.

"I’m so happy they’re back," said Noura Sabbagh, 16, a red rose in her hand that she hoped to give to a soldier.

The Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly as peacekeepers in a civil war that had then been going for a year. After the war ended in 1990, about 40,000 Syrian troops remained, giving Damascus the decisive say in Lebanese politics.

But anger over the February 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, helped turn the tide against Syria’s presence. Unconvinced by Syrian and Lebanese government denials of involvement in Hariri’s death, ordinary Lebanese increased the pressure for Syria to leave.

Huge "Syria Out!" demonstrations in Beirut brought down the pro-Syrian Government, and UN and US pressure intensified on Damascus until it withdrew its army.

Shaaban al-Ajami, mayor of the nearby Lebanese border village of Majdal Anjar, said that he was happy to see the Syrians leave: "I feel like someone who was suffocated and jailed and has finally emerged from jail."

In the capital, Beirut, meanwhile, relatives of Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian jails scuffled with the army and beat politicians’ cars with the Lebanese flag during a demonstration outside parliament demanding the release of their loved ones. Two protesters were seen being loaded into an ambulance while two others received first aid at the scene of the demonstration in downtown Beirut.

With the Syrians leaving, its Lebanese allies in the security services also were collapsing. Major-General Jamil Sayyed - often described as the enforcer of Damascus’s policy - announced his resignation yesterday, and another top security commander left the country with his family.

Lebanon’s new Cabinet, led by Najib Mikati, the Prime Minister, went to Parliament today to seek a vote of confidence that will allow preparations for May elections. General Ali Habib, Syria’s chief of staff, said in a speech during the departure ceremony that Mr Assad had decided to pull out his troops after the Lebanese army was "rebuilt on sound national foundations and became capable of protecting the state".

By withdrawing, General Habib said, Syria will have fulfilled all its obligations toward UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called on it to pull out. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, has dispatched a team to verify the withdrawal.

The general stressed that the withdrawal does not mean an end to Syrian-Lebanese ties.

"The relations do not emanate from (Syria’s) military presence. The relations will continue and become stronger at present and in the future," he said, before taking a swipe at the United States by saying that "anyone who thinks that the history of people can be eliminated by statements made by this or that state is mistaken".

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