MDEIREJ, Lebanon - Syrian soldiers loaded trucks with furniture and other supplies Monday and drove east from the Lebanese mountain posts they have held for decades, the first signs of a redeployment to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley announced by the leaders of the neighboring nations.

The pullback began as more than 70,000 Lebanese shouting "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" thronged Beirut in the biggest demonstration yet of anti-Syria anger that has fueled recent street protests. Washington rejected the redeployment as insufficient.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Lebanese counterpart, Emile Lahoud, met in Syria's capital, Damascus, to outline plans for shifting Syrian troops closer to the Syrian border by the end of March. But they were vague on the timing of a complete withdrawal from Lebanon.
 

Lacking a timeline, the plan was unlikely to satisfy the Lebanese opposition and the international community, which have demanded that all 14,000 Syrian soldiers leave the country.
 

At least 70,000 people — some estimates put the figure at 100,000 or more — demonstrated in downtown Beirut, waving Lebanon's cedar-tree flag and thundering, "Syria out!"
 

"Yes, for withdrawal to the Bekaa, but, yes, first to the full withdrawal behind the Lebanese-Syrian border," opposition lawmaker Walid Eido told the crowd.
 

The protesters marched to the site of a Feb. 14 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and touched off the angry but peaceful street protests that drove Lebanon's pro-Syrian government to resign a week ago.
 

Many Lebanese accuse the Syrian government and their former government of responsibility for Hariri's death. Both deny any involvement.
 

Foes of the Syrian presence are calling for demonstrations to continue. One group raised a banner Monday reading read, "Today we have one target: To liberate our land."
 

But in a sign of the divisions in Lebanon, the militant Islamic group Hezbollah urged a counterdemonstration Tuesday to show loyalty to Syria and denounce international interference.
 

Syria has had troops here since 1976, when they were sent as peacekeepers during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. When the war ended, the troops remained and Syria has dominated Lebanon's politics since.
 

The United States, France, Russia and the U.N. Security Council have firmly demanded that Syria withdraw all the troops and stop interfering in the affairs of its smaller neighbor. Washington wants a full withdrawal of Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents before Lebanese parliamentary elections expected in April and May.
 

"We stand with the Lebanese people, and the Lebanese people, I think, are speaking very clearly," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "They want a future that is sovereign, independent and free from outside influence and intimidation."
 

McClellan called the troop redeployment announced Monday "a half measure."

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