Lebanese officials said Syrian troops will begin pulling back toward the Syrian border today, as the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for a demonstration in Beirut to counter weeks of anti-Syrian protests.

Syrian troops will begin withdrawing from Lebanon following a meeting of the two countries’ leadership tomorrow, the Lebanese defence minister said today.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was expected to announce today the pull-back of his troops in Lebanon closer to the Syrian border, but US counterpart George W Bush has rejected anything but a full withdrawal as insufficient.

A DISGRUNTLED Education Ministry employee opened fire at colleagues at a ministry office in Lebanon yesterday, killing eight people and wounding five before he was apprehended