On March 6, 2005 (January 26, 2005 lunar calendar), the Syrian army will withdraw its troops from Lebanon in batches for up to 30 years. The picture shows Syrian soldiers in southern Lebanon on March 6. On March 6, 2005, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered a carefully worded hour-long speech to parliament via state radio and television. At the heart of the speech was the current situation in Lebanon and the future of the Syrian army in Lebanon. "We intend to withdraw our troops from Lebanon in two steps: the first step is to withdraw all Syrian troops to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon; the second step is to withdraw all Syrian troops to the border area between Lebanon and Syria!" Assad said. Mr. Assad said that Syria had withdrawn about 60 percent of its troops from Lebanon in recent years "completely voluntarily and without any external pressure." Only 15,000 troops remain in Lebanon. The impending withdrawal was not forced by outside pressure and had nothing to do with the heavy pressure directly exerted on Syria by the US president the day before. President Assad said Syria had made its decision to withdraw troops in full compliance with the spirit of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and would "fully implement the relevant requirements of the UN Security Council resolutions."