by Nathaniel Harrison
BEIRUT - Syria took a further step Tuesday toward ending its military presence in Lebanon as it began to dismantle its intelligence apparatus here in a move that drew a guarded welcome from the United States.
In another sign of Syria`s waning influence Lebanese police used a crane to haul down two huge public portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his more famous father, the late Hafez al-Assad.
Both developments came a day after close to a million people rallied in central Beirut at a demonstration called by the Lebanese opposition to add punch to their call for a complete and expeditious Syrian military pullout.
Prime Minister-designate Omar Karameh, a Syrian sympathizer, was meanwhile struggling to form a new government of national unity in the face of stiff demands from an energized opposition in exchange for its participation.
From the early hours of Tuesday members of Syrian military intelligence units were seen evacuating positions in Beirut in what appeared to be a bid by Damascus to end its near-30-year military presence in Lebanon once and for all.
The dismantling of four intelligence offices in the capital also followed a weekend commitment by Assad to a UN envoy to call home all his troops and intelligence operatives.
Syria until recently had 14,000 troops in Lebanon but has begun carrying out a redeployment, with forces abandoing positions in north Lebanon and the mountains above Beirut for points east on their way home across the border.
In Washington Tuesday White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States saw "some positive steps" toward a Syrian pullout but would keep the pressure on Damascus for a total departure before May parliamentary elections in Lebanon.
"There have been some signs that are encouraging, but we need to see by their actions, and not their words, a complete withdrawal," McClellan told journalists.
A deeply divided Lebanon woke up Tuesday to the task of securing a measure of political unity in the wake of huge demonstrations by both the opposition and pro-Syrian forces.
Monday`s big rally eclipsed in numbers militant gatherings of pro-Syrian parties on Sunday and last Tuesday, called by the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah, and served to highlight the political fissures in Lebanon.
The catalyst for the latest turmoil was the assassination February 14 of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed here on Syria despite denials from Damascus.
The killing also had political ramifications, with Karameh resigning February 28 in the face of public fury only to be called back to the premiership by President Emile Lahoud.
Karameh on Tuesday began consultations with opposition MPs in his quest for a government of national unity, a bid so far rejected by his opponents.
"We`re calling for a transition government that will oversee the total pullout of Syrian military and intelligence units and free legislative elections," opposition MP Fares Souaid told AFP.
"If our demands are not met, there is no question of our participating in the government. Monday`s demonstration showed that the majority of the country is with the opposition."
Karameh`s opponents are also pressing for an international probe into Hariri`s assassination and the dismissal of the public prosecutor along with the heads of Lebanon`s six security services.
But an operational consensus here will require an understanding with Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah, the principal actors behind a movement that opposes foreign pressure to oust the Syrians and is sympathetic to the role Syria has played in Lebanon.
Opposition leader Walid Jumblatt in a television interview after Monday`s rally argued that "Hezbollah must know where Lebanese independence lies and put an end to its political ambivalence."
Of the current Lebanese administration, Jumblatt said: "This leadership, dominated by Lebanese-Syrian intelligence services and which has Emile Lahoud at its head is finished. It`s been swept away by the people."
Jumblatt`s sentiment is shared by other MPs, several of whom called Tuesday for Lahoud`s resignation.
Farid Khazen, a former tourism minister, urged Lahoud "to show proof of courage by resigning immediately in order spare Lebanon a grave political and economic crisis."

03/15/2005 16:39 GMT