BEIRUT - With Syrian soldiers finally out of their country, the Lebanese are set to mark their new-found independence with elections next month but doubts linger over whether Damascus has truly relinquished control.
With Washington wary that Syria is leaving "intelligence assets" behind, a UN team of experts is in Damascus on a mission to verify the historic pullout, which brought to an end Syria's 29-year military hold on its neighbor.
Lebanese danced in the streets and Syrians waved national flags as the last Syrian troops crossed the border back home Tuesday after relentless international pressure was piled on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"We have turned a shameful page in the history of Lebanon and for the first time in 30 years, we can talk freely," opposition MP Butros Harb told parliament ahead of a confidence vote in the new government.
"Lebanon is finally left to the Lebanese," headlined the French-language L'Orient-Le Jour. The country now faces "a new page, full of hope for the future... even if there are a lot of problems to resolve."
The departure of the Syrian troops, who first moved into Lebanon as a buffer force a year after the start of the 1975-1990 civil war, was greeted warily by the United States, while the United Nations said it was awaiting verification.
Lebanon is now planning to hold elections by the end of May, most likely starting on May 29, which the country hopes will put a lid on weeks of turmoil triggered by the February killing of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Syria's domination over the past three decades has been so pervasive and so painful to the Lebanese that many are still wary that Damascus could ever stop interfering.
Even with the troops gone, Syria's influence remains strong, with close allies in President Emile Lahoud and parliament speaker Nabih Berri as well as the powerful Shiite movements Amal and Hezbollah.
New prime minister designate Nagib Miqati, regarded as a compromise candidate who formed a government only a week ago to pave the way for elections, is also a close friend of Assad's.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called the pullout "an important first step" towards compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which order foreign forces out of Lebanon.
He also said Syria was obliged to withdraw its intelligence officers and "I think there are some lingering concerns that not all Syrian intelligence assets are out of Lebanon."
Damascus, which had one stage had as many as 40,000 men in Lebanon with which it was able to wield control over many walks of life, formally notified the United Nations on Tuesday of the "complete withdrawal" of its troops in a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The UN chief said in a report that he had received assurances from Lebanon and Syria that military intelligence agents had not stayed behind.
But Annan said he could not actually verify the pullout until a technical team which is due to visit both Damascus and Beirut reported back to him, and he also reiterated UN demands for all militias to be disarmed.
For his part, Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud said: "We assert that the withdrawal is complete according to information from the (Lebanese) army command."
But on the calls for disarming the Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hammud said: "It is not a militia but a national resistance movement defending Lebanon and occupied Lebanese territories in the south."
Hezbollah is the only armed group not to have laid down its weapons after the civil war as it was deemed to be leading a resistance war against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, which finally ended in 2000.
Another UN team was due in Lebanon on Wednesday to prepare the ground for a commission of inquiry to probe the killing of Hariri in a bomb blast blamed by many on the Beirut regime and its Syrian masters.
The attack unleashed a wave of massive anti-Syria protests that ultimately led to the downfall of the government and the Syrian pullout.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's parliament was debating the new government's policy statement for the second day, paving the way for the adoption of a law to allow elections to go ahead as planned by the end of May.
The debate is to followed by a vote of confidence in Miqati's new 13-minister cabinet. Berri said he planned to support the confidence motion and called for elections to be held from May 29.
In his report to the Security Council on Tuesday, Annan said: "I have been particularly concerned about the holding of parliamentary elections as a test of the sovereignty, unity and political independence of Lebanon."
A delay in holding the polls "would contribute to further exacerbating the political divisions in Lebanon and threaten the security, stability and prosperity of the country," he warned.

04/27/2005 11:16 GMT