DAMASCUS, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad postponed a scheduled visit to Austria in mid-March due to current developments in the region, the official Syria Times newspaper reported Thursday.

   The paper said Assad Wednesday evening called Austrian President Heinz Fischer to express his wish to postpone the visit.

   "The two leaders agreed that a new date will be fixed for the visit under more suitable circumstances with the aim of achieving the hoped-for objective of this visit," it added.

   Syria has been under mounting international pressure to withdraw its 14,000 troops from neighboring Lebanon, particularly after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

   Assad on Wednesday met visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, during which they discussed the latest
development in the region and bilateral relations, the official SANA news agency reported.

   The agency did not elaborate on details of the talk, but the issue of Lebanon was considered high on the agenda.

   Assad was expected to visit Saudi Arabia in the next 48 hours for emergency talks over Lebanon, the leading Saudi newspaper Al- Riyadh reported Wednesday.

   These high-level meetings were seen as efforts by the Syrian leadership to seek help from friendly Arab countries allied to the United States to defuse mounting pressures over its military and political influence in Lebanon.

   In an interview published by Time magazine on its website on Tuesday, Assad made indications, for the first time, that Syria was considering a total withdrawal from Lebanon soon.

   "It should be very soon and may be in the next few months. Not after that," Assad said.

   However, the Syrian leader declined to give a definite timetable for the pullout, saying it depended on technical rather than political considerations.  Enditem