Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs and other parts of Lebanon early today, local media reported.

Israeli warplanes struck suspected guerrilla positions in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria early today, despite its suspension of air strikes, security officials said.

Israeli forces resumed attacks on Lebanon at daybreak today, pounding the country’s main road link to Syria with missiles and setting passenger buses on fire.

Because Israel and Lebanon have never signed a peace accord, the countries remain officially in a state of war that has existed since 1948 when Lebanon joined other Arab nations against the newly formed Jewish state.

Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the main army air base in eastern Lebanon near Syria’s border today, police said, an attack that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel’s war with Hezbollah guerrillas.

A Lebanese guerrilla was killed and two Lebanese civilians were wounded in cross-border fighting today as Lebanese gunmen responded to Israeli airstrikes by attacking Israel, the Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV said.

The withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following a 29-year military presence will be completed by Sunday, a senior military officer said.

ABOUT 2,000 Syrian troops have pulled out of eastern Lebanon over the past week, a senior Lebanese security source said yesterday, bringing Syria a step closer to ending its 29-year military domination of Lebanon.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday demanded that Syria withdraw all its troops from Lebanon before Lebanese parliamentary elections in April and May, marking the first time he has set a specific timetable for Damascus.

Hezbollah’s leader yesterday rejected a suggestion by US President George Bush that the militant group disarm and enter the political mainstream, saying the group will never leave Lebanon defenceless.

LEBANON President Emile Lahoud looks set to ask outgoing pro-Syrian prime minister Omar Karami to form a government, a step sure to anger the anti-Syrian opposition who pressured him to resign in the first place.

SYRIA, under world pressure to quit Lebanon, promised yesterday to shift its troops to eastern areas this month, but the presidents of the two countries failed to set a deadline for a full withdrawal.

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 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.

Syrian President Bashar Assad will address his parliament tomorrow, raising strong speculation that he may bow to growing international pressure and announce some kind of troop withdrawal from neighbouring Lebanon.

Syria began to backtrack today after President Bashar Assad said his troops “maybe” out of Lebanon in a few months.

Israeli warplanes have attacked suspected Hezbollah guerrilla bases in southern Lebanon after the guerrillas fired rockets and mortar shells at Israeli positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms area.