BEIRUT, April 25: Syrian forces, led by their feared intelligence chief General Rustom Ghazaleh, headed out of Lebanon on Monday, ushering in a new era for the tiny country which has been in the military and political grip of Damascus for 29 years.

As overjoyed residents threw flowers after Gen Ghazaleh drove back home in a large convoy, Lebanese troops deployed for the first time across cities and towns evacuated by the Syrian army.

In another blow to Syria’s influence, the pro-Damascus chief of Lebanon’s General Security service, Jamil Sayyed, quit on Monday ahead of a UN probe into February’s assassination of five-time prime minister Rafik Hariri, which triggered a seachange in the country.

Gen Ghazaleh, who held a tight grip on political life in Lebanon for years, crossed the border after evacuating the Syrian army headquarters in the eastern town of Anjar and giving back the house he had been occupying for years in nearby Shtaura.

A Lebanese flag was seen fluttering over the evacuated Syrian headquarters. Gen Ghazaleh himself was expected to return to Lebanon briefly on Tuesday for a formal farewell ceremony that will seal the Syrian withdrawal.

“A few hours from now, and a new era will start in Lebanon,” read the headline in the French-language L’Orient-Le Jour newspaper.

A UN team is due in the region this week to verify the withdrawal, carried out in the face of intense international pressure following Mr Hariri’s assassination in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront.

Israel voiced hope the pullout could pave the way to normal relations with Lebanon, but expressed doubt over whether Syria would actually withdraw all military and intelligence forces or end its backing for Hezbollah guerillas.

Most Syrian troops have now crossed the border, bar the token force scheduled to attend Tuesday’s official sendoff.

The same day, UN chief Kofi Annan is due to report to the Security Council on Syria’s compliance with a resolution it passed last September requiring the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

NEW BLOW: The loss of the General Security chief on Monday was a new blow to Syria’s grip on its smaller neighbour.

One of a number of security chiefs whose dismissal was demanded by the opposition over Mr Hariri’s murder, Gen Sayyed had done Syria’s bidding at the head of Lebanon’s security apparatus for the past seven years.

He said he was quitting because of “important changes in the policies” which had brought him to power.

New Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa said he would propose the replacement of Gen Sayyed and Internal Security chief General Ali Hajj at the first cabinet meeting after his government wins parliamentary approval.

The opposition has demanded the sacking of five top security officials and public prosecutor Adnan Addum over Mr Hariri’s assassination.

The confidence vote in the new government is now expected to be held on Wednesday after a two-day debate on its programme.

Tuesday’s sendoff for a Syrian force first deployed in 1976 in the early stages of the Lebanese civil war, will be held at a military airbase in the eastern town of Rayaq.

The UN team charged with verifying the withdrawal is expected to start work the same day in Damascus, where it will “meet the Syrian army command and obtain the necessary reports, maps and documents”, a diplomatic source said.

Another UN team will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday to prepare the ground for the UN commission of inquiry into Mr Hariri’s murder.—AFP