AMERICA’S allies in the Middle East weighed in yesterday to press Syria to start withdrawing its forces from Lebanon without delay.

With international pressure mounting on President Assad to end his country’s occupation of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt intervened to try to end the deepening crisis.

During a meeting in Riyadh between Crown Prince Abdullah and the Syrian leader, the Saudi Arabians took a tough line, demanding that Syria start pulling out all its military and security forces from Lebanon under the terms of United Nations Resolution 1449.

“Prince Abdullah advised President Assad to withdraw rapidly from Lebanon and to announce a timetable for the pullout,” a Saudi official said after the meeting.

The Syrians reportedly have offered a partial withdrawal timed to take place before the Arab League summit on March 23 but are insisting that they keep 3,000 troops in Lebanon to man early- warning radar stations.

Mr Assad has offered to withdraw troops “in the next few months”, although Syrian soldiers based above Beirut were yesterday seen reinforcing their positions.

The Arab intervention is part of a US strategy to squeeze Damascus, which is facing a popular uprising by Lebanese protesters against its 29-year military intervention.

The Bush Administration has made it clear that it expects all of Syria’s 14,000 soldiers and its extensive security apparatus to be dismantled and withdrawn from Lebanon to allow the country to hold free and fair elections in May.

It has also called on Syria to stop supporting insurgents in Iraq as well as Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups. The United States has said that if Syria does not back down, it may consider strengthening sanctions.

Syria, which has been able to resist American pressure in the past, now finds itself increasingly isolated, even from its friends in the Arab world and in Europe.

Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, added his voice to the criticism coming from France, Britain and Russia when he demanded yesterday that “Syria must pull out of Lebanon immediately”.

While diplomatic efforts were under way in the Arab world, Lebanon continued to be gripped by a constitutional crisis provoked by the resignation on Monday of the Government led by Omar Karameh, the former Prime Minister. No other politicians are prepared to take his place, leaving President Lahoud, the pro-Syrian head of state, politically isolated.

Syria’s grip on Lebanon was shaken on February 14 with the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, who had been an outspoken critic of Syria’s interference in his country.

His murder has sparked widespread protests by thousands of Lebanese who have accused Syria of ordering Mr Hariri’s murder. Yesterday authorities investigating the assassination said that video footage had been recovered from the scene of the bombing in central Beirut that might provide clues to the identity of his killers.

The Arab daily As-Safir reported yesterday that the powerful bomb was concealed in a German-made vehicle that was moving at the time of the explosion.

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