Syria's 3-Decade Reign Ends at 1000 GMT, April 26, 2005

Syria's 3-decade reign of Lebanon came to an official end at a low-keyed farewell ceremony held by the Lebanese and Syrian army commands at the airbase of Riyak in the Bekaa Valley Tuesday. The ceremonious occasion was held under the joint auspices of Lebanon's army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman and Syria's chief-of-Staff Gen. Aly Habib at 11 a.m. Beirut time, or 8 a.m. Greenwich Meantime. The event lasted two hours and general Habib's motorcade was seen off at Lebanon's Masnaa border checkpoint at 1 p.m. Beirut time, or 1000 GMT. Syria's military intelligence chief in Lebanon Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh was among Gen. Habib's departing convoy into Syria proper. Not a single Syrian soldier had then remained on Lebanese soil. Ghazaleh wrapped up the month-long Syrian evacuation by closing down his headquarters in the Bekaa town of Anjar Monday afternoon. He handed the keys of the building to its original Lebanese owner, turned over the town to the Lebanese army and rode a black Mercedes limousine to Damascus. Ghazaleh, who was seen off by group of pro-Syria politicians in Lebanon, including the leaders of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and a Hizbullah representative, returned to the Riyak ceremony at midmorning Tuesday. But his iron-fisted rule of Lebanon is over and out. The Lebanese army has declared Anjar off-limits to avoid potential friction between Syria's loyalists and Lebanon's opposition groupings in the town that has a predominantly Armenian population. A barbwire checkpoint manned by Lebanese troops on foot and aboard an armored personnel carrier was set up under a poster of 'WELCOME TO ANJAR' in Arabic, English and Armenian. But jubilant crowds took the streets of the neighboring towns of Chtaura and Jedita, waving Lebanese flags and lauding Lebanese troops as they fanned out in all Syrian-vacated bases Monday and Tuesday.