BEIRUT, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Syria may announced partial troops pullout from neighboring Lebanon while President Bashar al-Assad is set to address the parliament on Saturday afternoon, al-Jazeera reported on Friday.

   The move was expected to include withdrawal of part of its 14,000 troops from Lebanon and redeploy some to areas closer to the Syrian border, a Lebanese official source said.

   Assad will deliver a speech in the parliament "on current political developments" on Saturday, the official SANA news agency said, without giving further details.

   Syria has indicated recently it would conduct the pullout under the Taif agreement, which was signed between Damascus and various Lebanese groups in 1989, virtually putting an end to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and outlining a gradual pullout of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

   Syria has been under mounting international pressure to withdraw troops, deployed after a Lebanese civil war erupted in 1975.

   The call was triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on Feb. 14, which Lebanon's opposition accused Syria of playing a role, a charge denied by Damascus.

   Public mourning of Hariri, a major architect of Lebanon's postwar revival and opponent to Syria's influence, turned into mass protest that toppled Beirut's pro-Syrian government this week.

   The United States has spearheaded efforts to lead a call for the Syrian pullout, and Germany and Britain were the latest to join the camp, urging implementation of UN resolution 1559.

   The US-French resolution was adopted in September 2004, calling on foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon.

   Russia, long one of Syria's best friends, also said the troops should go.

   "Syria should withdraw from Lebanon, but we all have to make sure that this withdrawal does not violate the very fragile balance which we still have in Lebanon, which is a very difficult country ethnically," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

   However, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Thursday refrained from adding pressure on Syria, saying they were opting for quiet diplomacy by individual Arab states.  Enditem