DAMASCUS, March 5: President Bashar al-Assad announced on Saturday that Syria would redeploy all its troops in Lebanon to the Syrian border but did not set a timetable for a full withdrawal.

Speaking to parliament amid mounting pressure to act from Syria's friends and foes alike, Mr Assad said Syria would pull back its troops to the eastern Bekaa valley and then to the border itself.

"As an extension of measures already taken ... we will withdraw our forces stationed in Lebanon to the Bekaa Valley and then to the border" with Syria," he said in the keynote address.

"I have agreed with (Lebanese) President Emile Lahoud that the Supreme Council on Security should meet this week to approve the withdrawal plan and then we will have fulfilled our obligations under the Taef accord and under Resolution 1559."

It was not clear whether the troops would cross over into Syria once they had reached the border but the announcement marked the end of a 29 year period when Syrian troops have been stationed in the heart of the country.

Mr Assad argued that Syria was not against a full withdrawal from Lebanon, pointing out that the country has already pulled out thousands of its troops since September 2000 and wanted to see them come home.

"The natural place for Syrian forces is Syrian land," he said. "Withdrawal is in the interests of Syria." But Mr Assad said any withdrawal had to be coordinated and calls from the United Nations calling for an immediate withdrawal would have to "shoulder the responsibility" for such a move.

Syria would make no withdrawal under pressure, Mr Assad said. "There is an impression, which is wrong, that Syria is in a predicament and we have to find a way out."

He said Syria was not against UN Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, saying it was neither "good nor bad."

Earlier, Lebanese forces in Beirut had briefly deployed outside three Syrian intelligence buildings in the Lebanese capital, although there was no clear explanation for the move.

A Lebanese officer at the scene said the move was a "prelude to the Lebanese army taking charge of positions that will be evacuated by the Syrian army."

The hour-long speech from Assad was punctuated by frequent bursts of applause from the lawmakers, who surrounded him and cheered as he was escorted out of the building.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrians were gathered outside the parliament watching the proceedings on big screens, waving Syrian flags and greeting Mr Assad's pronouncements by chanting Assad's name and cheering.

The key question is whether Mr Assad's speech will satisfy US President George W. Bush, who has warned the Damascus government he expects nothing less than a full pullout from Lebanon.

Syria and its allies in Lebanon have been widely blamed for Hariri's murder, and mass public protests have already forced the resignation of the Beirut government. Mr Assad described the murder as a "heinous crime".

Syria has long argued that it needs to retain troops in Lebanon because of Israel's continued occupation of the Golan Heights, seized from Damascus in the 1967 Middle East war.

The troops entered Lebanon to try to restore peace during that country's 15-year long civil war which ended in 1990 under the Taef agreement.

This provided for a phased redeployment of the Syrian forces but set no timetable, leaving it to agreement between Beirut and Damascus. In a series of redeployments since June 2001, Syrian troop numbers have fallen from a maximum of 40,000 to 14,000.

French President Jacques Chirac also called on Friday for the complete and immediate implementation of a UN resolution seeking Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.-AFP