PRESIDENT Assad of Syria will break his silence today and respond to the growing pressure from around the world for Syria to withdraw its 14,000 forces from Lebanon immediately.

The British-trained eye doctor is expected to announce a partial withdrawal — which falls well short of demands from the US, Europe and key Arab states. To go further could undermine the young Syrian leader at home, but Washington is now openly gunning for a regime it accuses of supporting the insurgency in Iraq.

Last night President Bush stepped up the pressure on Mr Assad, warning Damascus that Washington would not tolerate “half-hearted measures”. Mr Bush said: “Syrian troops, Syrian intelligence services must get out of Lebanon now. The world is speaking to Syria with one voice: we want that democracy in Lebanon to succeed. And we know it cannot succeed so long as it is occupied by a foreign power. There are no half-measures involved. We mean complete withdrawal.”

Mr Bush’s remarks referred to elections to be held in Lebanon in May.

In an address to the Syrian parliament, Mr Assad is expected to offer a phased pullout. The Syrians insist that they must keep 3,000 troops manning early-warning radar stations in Lebanon, and argue that a rapid retreat could reignite sectarian strife in Lebanon.

“We are going to leave Lebanon. But we will not do this in a way that is chaotic. We will not create a vacuum,” Imad Moustapha, the Syrian Ambassador to Washington, said.

Abdul-Rahim Murad, the Defence Minister in the outgoing Lebanese Government, which is close to the Syrians, said that he expected the Syrians to pull some troops out and redeploy others to the Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. The Syrians would make the move before this month’s Arab League summit.

But Britain says the offer falls well short of UN Resolution 1559 and warned Syria that it risked becoming a “pariah” if it defied the international community. “Syria really does face a strategic choice,” Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told the BBC. “If they pull their forces out, they have got to do it in a sensible, swift but phased way.

“Then they can come back into the fold of the international community. If they don’t, they really will be treated as a pariah — not just by the West, but by most of their Arab neighbours.”

Mr Straw ruled out foreign military intervention to force Syria from Lebanon, saying: “There is absolutely no suggestion of military action.”

But he mentioned that “there could be some more (UN) peacekeeping troops”, reinforcing those already deployed in the south of the country, if and when Syria troops went home.

“We need real democracy in Lebanon,” the Foreign Secretary said. “You can only have democracy if the government has complete control on its territory — and that’s not the case."

President's rise and rule

1965: born second son of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad
1992-94: in London studying ophthalmology
1994: recalled to Syria after brother dies in car crash
1994-2000: attends Homs Military Academy
June 2000: becomes President after father dies
June 2000-Sept 2001: “Damascus Spring” as Assad releases political prisoners
Sept 2001: “Damascus Spring” ends with clampdown on opposition
2003: Assad becomes vocal critic of Iraq war
March 2003: US accuses Syria of arming Iraqi insurgents
May 2004: US imposes sanctions for “supporting terrorist groups” and for presence in Lebanon
Sept 2004: UN calls for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon
Feb 2005: assassination of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister, sparks Beirut demonstrations against Syrian presence

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