Haaretz Service and News Agencies

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday called on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon by April, when he is due to present a report on the issue to the Security Council, Al Arabiya television reported.

The satellite channel said Annan told it in an interview he was referring to a full withdrawal, not a redeployment of troops within Lebanon.

The United States and France sponsored a UN resolution adopted in September that demanded a Syrian pullout. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Terje Roed-Larsen as his special envoy to oversee implementation of the measure.

"He cautioned that the Security Council may take measures against Syria if it does not ... comply with the resolution," the television channel said.

Also Thursday, a three-member UN team led by Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald arrived in Beirut to report on last week's assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, witnesses said.

At the instructions of the Security Council, Annan appointed the team last week to urgently report on "the circumstances, causes and consequences of the assassination".

International pressure on Syria to pull out its 14,000 troops and relinquish its political grip on its tiny neighbor has increased since assassination amid allegations of Syrian involvement in the killing.

Israel welcomes Syrian announcement on troop withdrawal
Israel welcomed Thursday a Syrian announcement that Damascus will pull back its forces from Lebanon, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

"Israel supports implementation UN Security Council 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces and the disarming of all the militias, including Hezbollah," Regev said.

Syria had said earlier in the day that it is ready to work with the United Nations to implement a Security Council resolution requiring Syrian troops to leave Lebanon.

"Syria expresses its keen interest in cooperating with the envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations to accomplish his mission in the best formula possible," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed al-Mualem told reporters.

"The important withdrawals that have been carried out so far and will be carried out later will be done in agreement with Lebanon against the backdrop of the Taif Accord and the mechanisms it entails," he said.

Mualem's remarks were the clearest official response Syria has made so far to the outcry against its role in Lebanon.

The Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war called for a redeployment of Syrian troops to eastern Lebanon, followed by agreement on a timetable for a full withdrawal.

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he would wait for Syria's response to the international calls before seeking possible U.N. sanctions against Damascus.

Mualem said faster troop withdrawals depended on moves to strengthen Lebanese security forces to fill the vacuum.

"Syria sees that speeding up the pace of the withdrawals requires that the Lebanese army and internal security be enabled to fill the gap that might occur in a way that does not infringe on the security of Lebanon and Syria," he said, reading a statement.