After a farewell parade the last Syrian forces headed for the border

It informed the UN of the withdrawal after a parade of about 200 Syrian soldiers in the Bekaa Valley to mark the end of the 29-year deployment.

Soldiers received medals and shouted support for Syria's president before marching off to a Lebanese army band.

Pressure for Syria to leave grew after the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in February.

SYRIA IN LEBANON Military intervention began in 1976 30,000 troops in Lebanon during 1980s, 14,000 by 2005 Syrian forces helped end Lebanese civil war in 1990 and maintain peace Calls for Syrian withdrawal increased in 2000 after Israeli pull-out from southern Lebanon UN resolution calling for foreign forces' withdrawal in Sept 2004 In pictures: Troops leave Mixed reaction from press Lebanese political reaction

Damascus has denied any role in the death of Hariri who was killed by a car bomb in Beirut but the event prompted giant protests calling for the Syrians to go.

BBC Beirut correspondent Kim Ghattas says the Syrians stayed on long after Lebanon's civil war ended and Damascus effectively became the political master of its tiny neighbour.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said "a new political era in the relations between the two brethren countries" had started with the completion of the troop withdrawal.

Pierre Gemayel, a Christian Maronite opposition MP, said: "We consider this a first step towards regaining Lebanon's full and real sovereignty."

'Honourable farewell'

In a letter to the UN, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara announced:

Police and relatives of prisoners held in Syria scuffled in Beirut

"The Syrian Arab forces stationed in Lebanon, at the request of Lebanon and under an Arab mandate, have fully withdrawn all their military, security apparatus and assets to their positions in Syria on the 26 April, 2005".

He was responding to UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for the pullout of all non-Lebanese forces.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is due to deliver a report on the implementation of the resolution later on Tuesday and a UN team is due to assess whether or not the pullout has been completed.

Syria's troops in Lebanon - which at one point numbered up to 40,000 - were scheduled to leave completely by 30 April.

The formal ceremony marking the completion of the Syrian withdrawal started around mid-morning at the Rayaq air base in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Syrian and Lebanese army chiefs attended.

Wreaths were laid in honour of Syrian soldiers who had died in Lebanon, while the Lebanese army vowed to remember what it described as its own martyrs.

Marching bands played both countries' national anthems before official speeches praising the role of the Syrian army in Lebanon.

Our correspondent says that after all the anti-Syrian protests that Lebanon has witnessed recently and the pressure that Syria has been under, this was a way to give the Syrian army a last honourable moment in Lebanon.

Beirut protest

In the Lebanese capital Beirut, relatives of Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian jails scuffled with the army and beat parliamentarians' cars with Lebanese flags during a demonstration demanding the release of their family members.

Two protesters were seen being loaded into a Civil Defence ambulance while two others received first aid at the scene of the protest.

Associated Press reported that at one stage two shots were fired by a bodyguard of one member of parliament.

Nobody was injured by the gunfire but the bodyguard was seen hitting a protester with his pistol butt.