{"article":{"id":123752,"heading":"Syria's Spies Evacuate Beirut, Ending 15-Year Reign of Terror","author":"Mark dameli","created":"2005-03-17 16:08:57","modified":"2005-08-15 00:04:46","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:04:46","article":"

The three principal intelligence compounds in Beirut's commercial thoroughfare of Hamra, the posh Ramlet el Baida seaside residential neighborhood and the mid-city Beau Rivage district have been vacated, the local media said Wednesday.

Furniture and personal affects of the officers manning the three centers were packed on Syrian army lorries which headed for the Beirut-Damascus highway en route for Syria. The last packed truck left the Beau Rivage before first light Wednesday, media reports said.

A huge poster carrying portraits of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his father, the late Hafez Assad, were taken off an Iron frame spanning the Saeb Salam overpass in the Raouche district. A Bulldozer was seen knocking down two small buildings attached to the Beau Rivage complex.

Lebanese police cordoned off the three districts while the spy centers were being dismantled and contents trucked away. Groups of jubilant Beirutis clapped and cheered from a distance, waving Lebanese national flags. Lebanese troops took charge of the three vacated compounds.

The Beirut evacuation came as the Syrian army completed 80% of the first stage of a withdrawal plan announced from the Syrian parliament by President Assad last week.

An Nahar said 4,000 troops have thus far been withdrawn from the central mountains above Beirut, of which 4,000 crossed the border into Syria proper and 2,000 fanned out in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 Syrian soldiers have almost completely withdrawn from northern Lebanon into Syria, leaving behind some six intelligence compounds with small garrisons of troops guarding them in Tripoli and Akkar. The spy centers are expected to be withdrawn before the end of March, the deadline set for the first evacuation stage.(Photo shows evacuation of Beau Rivage complex underway)





Beirut, Updated 16 Mar 05, 10:15









<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.2la.org\/lebanon\/ee\/terrorlb.htm","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Syria has pulled all major spy centers from Beirut, ending a 15-year reign of terror and leaving the Lebanese capital to breath free from the watching Moukhabarat eyes and listening ears for the first time since the end of the civil war.","numcomment":14,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2005\/03\/syrian_terrorist.jpg","filesize":"31.2 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2005\/03\/123752.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2005\/03\/syrian_terrorist.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2005\/03\/syrian_terrorist.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":123756,"heading":"Israeli agents","article":"Let's get the Israeli agents, spies, assassins, and assorted thugs out of Lebanon as soon as possible. And let's get the UN started on demanding that Israel pay reparations for the vicious invasions of 1978 and 1982, which cost the lives of tens of thousands of Arabs and did untold property damage.","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-17 17:37:46","modified":"2005-03-17 17:37:46","fileurl":""},{"id":123760,"heading":"with reluctance...","article":"I will comment on this obvious disinfo.\r\nWho asked the Syrians to help them with the chaos the Israeli military\r\nleft behind?\r\nLebanon.\r\nThe chimps sycophantic's new painting of this massacre of around 20,000 is that of a civil war, not an armed terrible invasion. With the christian phalange doing their 'covert' murder during the night and the Israeli military hitting them 24\/7 That's your civil war.\r\n\r\n","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-17 17:52:08","modified":"2005-03-17 17:52:08","fileurl":""},{"id":123761,"heading":"fresca","article":""which cost the lives of tens of thousands of Arabs"\r\n\r\nSo we're talking about 80 or 90 bucks? Hardly seems worth the effort.","author":"and what?....","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-17 17:57:49","modified":"2005-03-17 17:57:49","fileurl":""},{"id":123770,"heading":"80 or 90 dollars","article":"That was the cost of your college diploma that you sent in for after reading that ad in Maxim. What was it - Adolf Hitler University?","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-17 19:32:39","modified":"2005-03-17 19:32:39","fileurl":""},{"id":123772,"heading":"fresca","article":""That was the cost of your college diploma that you sent in for after reading that ad in Maxim. What was it - Adolf Hitler University?"\r\n\r\nYou have got to be kidding me! That was possibly the lamest comeback I've ever read on this board.\r\n\r\nMeyer, you have got to become more clever and witty. ","author":"C'mon!","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-17 20:39:22","modified":"2005-03-17 20:39:22","fileurl":""},{"id":123776,"heading":"Fresca's Alma Mater","article":"Fresca was enrolled in Cindy's Dental Assistant College. But he flunked out after a few weeks.","author":"Assistant Dean","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-18 00:46:23","modified":"2005-03-18 00:46:23","fileurl":""},{"id":123780,"heading":"Starts with l","article":"la la land","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-18 01:36:23","modified":"2005-03-18 01:36:23","fileurl":""},{"id":123799,"heading":"successful","article":"Israel is a success? Well, that depends on what you mean by a success. Apartheid in South Africa operated successfully for decades, too. Israel couldn't exist unless US taxpayers were subsidizing it. In fact, it wouldn't last six months. It is hard to see anything valuable that it is exporting except Uzi machine guns to Latin American death squads and to gang members in LA.","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-18 17:04:27","modified":"2005-03-18 17:04:27","fileurl":""},{"id":123800,"heading":"over my head","article":"Well geez... BA should have typed:\r\nbegin with AN "I" to distinguish it from a lower case L which would have been consistant with the sentance structure.\r\nWell bargle my galls.","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-18 17:29:15","modified":"2005-03-18 17:29:15","fileurl":""},{"id":123809,"heading":"fresca","article":"Clearly the letter was an I as everyone accepts the irrefutable fact that Israel is the only country worth a damn in the entire Middle East. Read and understand the context.\r\n\r\nIdiot.\r\n\r\nOh, and that's with an "I".\r\n","author":"dumber as he gets older","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-19 00:58:20","modified":"2005-03-19 00:58:20","fileurl":""},{"id":123811,"heading":"fresca...","article":"... needs her bed sores attended to. Or maybe her catheter cleaned because she seems unusually grouchy today...\r\nYou might also tell the nurse to increase the morphine drip and make sure the t.e.n.s unit is working.\r\nThat will help.","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-19 02:43:26","modified":"2005-03-19 02:43:26","fileurl":""},{"id":123827,"heading":"OneEyedMan","article":"...no...no...clearly it was an lower case L...\r\n\r\n...'cause we spell israel with the lower case "i" just to be petulant...\r\n\r\n..shitpile....","author":"KPC","parent_id":123752,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-03-19 16:21:38","modified":"2005-03-19 16:21:38","fileurl":""}]}