Related: Syria denies offer to withdraw troops

    DAMASCUS, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria is willing to withdraw from neighboring Lebanon, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said here on Monday.

    "President Bashar al-Assad stressed more than once in (our)talks his firm intention to press ahead with the implementation of the al-Taif agreement and to withdraw from Lebanon in line with this agreement," Moussa told reporters after meeting with the Syrian president and Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara." The withdrawal is part of the Syrian policy. We will see steps soon," he added.

    Moussa said Assad underlined the importance to continue the "active and special relations" between Syria and Lebanon. The Taif agreement, inked in 1989, ended Lebanon's 1975-1990civil war and asked Syria to shift its troops in Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa Valley.

    As a main power-broker in Lebanon, Syria maintains about 14,000troops there.

    Moussa said Assad also welcomed a UN role in the investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

    "It is in the interests of all that this investigation be carried out in the fastest and most active way," Moussa quoted Assad as saying.

    The investigation would help "end hearsay and assure the Lebanese people and all of us about the legal process and that matters are proceeding on the right track," Assad was quoted assaying.

    Hariri, an opponent to Syria's influence in Lebanon, was killed in an explosion in central Beirut last week. He resigned as prime minister last October over disputes with incumbent Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a Damascus favorite.

    Hariri's assassination came amid high political tension in Lebanon and international pressure over Syria's dominance in its political affairs, just a few months before legislative elections are due to be held.

    Lebanese oppositions blamed Syrian and Lebanese authorities for the death of Hariri and called on Syrian forces to pull out before elections in May.

    The United States also called for Syria to end its occupation of Lebanon. Enditem