UN team in Lebanon to verify Syrian troop pullout

In further signs of Syria's waning influence in Lebanon, the new government replaced the pro-Syrian police, justice and intelligence chiefs, who were forced out under pressure from Damascus's opponents, and removed the head of state security.

Syria told the United Nations on Tuesday it had ended its 29-year military and intelligence presence in its tiny neighbour and was in full compliance with resolution 1559.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he could not confirm that until the UN verification mission had checked it.

That team arrived in Damascus on Tuesday seeking maps of the bases Syria has abandoned in Lebanon and a final report on its pullout from Syrian officials.

The eight-member mission will visit former Syrian army and intelligence bases to check the last forces have indeed gone. It was not clear how long that process would take.

Syria entered Lebanon early in the 1975-1990 civil war and has dominated Lebanon militarily and politically since, incurring little international opposition until the Security Council passed a resolution in September demanding it withdraw.

Pressure on Syria to end its grip mounted after the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blamed on Damascus.

The assassination provoked large street protests and an international outcry, prompting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to announce on March 5 that he would bring his 14,000-strong forces home. The pullout was completed in less than two months.

Another UN team met foreign and justice ministry officials on Thursday to make logistical preparations for an international inquiry into Hariri's killing in Beirut.

The Security Council ordered the international inquiry on April 7 after a fact-finding mission concluded that Lebanon's own probe into the killing was seriously flawed.

The report had also suggested that even an international probe would probably be unable to fulfil its mission while Lebanon's powerful pro-Syrian security chiefs stayed in office.

The cabinet named Saeed Mirza public prosecutor, Asharaf Reefi as internal security chief and George Khouri as head of military intelligence.