Last Syria units pack up to quit Lebanon after 29-yr

"Security chiefs are usually appointed with politics and change when it changes," Jamil al-Sayyed, head of the General Security, said in his resignation letter.

Sayyed said last week he was ready to step aside during a UN-ordered international investigation into the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which sparked furious protests against the Syrians many blamed for the killing.

Syria bowed to international and Lebanese pressure last month and began pulling its 14,000 troops and many more spies from Lebanon. Only a few hundred remain in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where the Lebanese Army prepared Monday to take over the Syrian intelligence headquarters in the town of Anjar.

Protests by Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition toppled the pro-Syrian government in the wake of Hariri's death. Their further demands for security chiefs to resign and for an international probe into Hariri's killing are now being realised.

The chief of police, Ali Hajj, last week put himself at the disposal of the interior minister, effectively stepping down.

Closely allied to Damascus, Sayyed has been widely considered Lebanon's most powerful security figure since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, when he played a crucial role in rebuilding the security organs that helped restore stability.

But many Lebanese politicians complain he used his position to impose Syria's influence over political life in Lebanon.

Syria withdrew hundreds of troops Sunday, burning documents, demolishing walls and filling bunkers as it abandoned its last military positions in the Bekaa, witnesses said.

At least 150 vehicles carrying troops, tanks and artillery crossed the border during the afternoon, they said.