A day after the country's biggest opposition demonstration, Syrian military intelligence on Tuesday was vacating an office in Beirut, moving furniture into trucks protected by Lebanese police.
Police blocked the road in the Hamra district of Beirut in the morning as three trucks started loading the furniture from the office. However, Syrian agents remained at their main office in the Lebanese capital, located at Ramlet el-Baida on the edge of the city.
Also Tuesday on Beirut's seafront corniche, workers removed and folded a giant portrait of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in a symbolic move. About two dozen Lebanese arrived later at the scene waving flags.
In Syria, meanwhile, Assad on Tuesday discussed the situation with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, who arrived earlier in the day in an unscheduled visit, an Egyptian official said.
Assad and Mubarak reportedly discussed the ongoing movement of Syrian troops from central and northern Lebanon, which is expected to be completed by the end of March.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
