Syrian spies pull out of Beirut

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Syrian intelligence agents vacated their dreaded intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Wednesday, leaving some smiling Lebanese faces and a lot of questions about the country's future.
Beirutis cheered and clapped as several dozen uniformed police and plainclothes agents pulled away from the seafront apartment complex that had housed the headquarters in a small convoy of buses and cars, ending their almost uninterrupted 30-year presence in Beirut and accelerating their compliance with the demands of the anti-Syrian movement.
The departure of the powerful Syrian Mukhabarat, seen as the prime force behind Syria's heavy-handed influence in Lebanon, was a key demand of the impromptu opposition movement that has rallied popular support in the month since the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
But as the opposition chalked up another apparent victory, the euphoria of the past weeks of political protest began to give way to a sober reckoning of the complexities of the political tangle produced by the recent turmoil.
Lebanon is without a government, and the opposition without a clear direction now that Syria has at least started to withdraw. Yet there is also a growing suspicion that Syria's hasty willingness to comply with the opposition's demands masks a longer-term plan to maintain its grip on Lebanon through its many supporters and proxies.