Syria has promised to remove all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon by April 30, the UN envoy said today after meeting with Syria’s president and foreign minister.

A senior Lebanese army officer has said 4,000 Syrian soldiers – more than a quarter of those serving in Lebanon just a week ago – are back in Syria, but he said a complete withdrawal is nearly a month away at the earliest.

SYRIA has withdrawn nearly a third of its troops from Lebanon, a senior officer said yesterday.

Syrian troops will not withdraw completely from Lebanon until at least after an April 7 meeting between senior Syrian and Lebanese military officers to discuss their redeployment, Lebanon’s foreign minister said today.

A security panel headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip early today after a wave of kidnappings that included a Palestinian police chief and four French citizens.

Israel today sharply criticised the United Nations, saying it was upset with a UN resolution, wary of UN plans to investigate the Jenin refugee camp, and that it might take action against the UN’s Mideast envoy.

The United Nations’ special envoy to the Middle East has said that 75% of the Palestinian population is now unemployed because of a state of economic paralysis caused by 19 months of violence.

Palestinian officials complained to a US envoy today about Israeli restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while Palestinian students trying to force open a road to their university scuffled with Israeli soldiers.