By Lin Noueihed  BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s most powerful pro-Syrian security chief resigned on Monday, hours before the last Syrian forces were due to leave their tiny neighbor and end Damascus’ 29-year domination.  The resignation of Jamil al-Sayyed, head of the General Security, signaled the collapse of the Syrian-installed security apparatus that had effectively run Lebanon for years. “Security chiefs are usually appointed with politics and change when it changes,” Sayyed said in his resignation letter. Sayyed said last week he was ready to step aside during a U.N.-ordered international investigation into the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which sparked angry protests against the Syrians many blamed.

Syria bowed to international and Lebanese pressure last month and began pulling its 14,000 troops and many more spies from Lebanon. Only a few hundred remain in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where the Lebanese Army prepared on Monday to take over the Syrian intelligence headquarters in the town of Anjar.

Protests by Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition toppled the pro-Syrian government in the wake of Hariri’s death. Their demands for security chiefs to resign and for an international probe into Hariri’s killing are now also being realized.

The chief of police, Ali Hajj, last week put himself at the disposal of the interior minister, effectively stepping down.

Closely allied to Damascus, Sayyed has been widely considered Lebanon’s most powerful security figure since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, when he played a crucial role in rebuilding the security organs that helped restore stability.

But many Lebanese politicians complain he used his position to impose Syria’s influence over political life in Lebanon.

“It’s finally over. I’m very optimistic about Lebanon’s future,” said Michael Young, a political commentator long critical of Syria. “No doubt they will continue to try to play a role in Lebanon, but the structure of their system of authority in Lebanon has collapsed.”

VERIFICATION TEAM

The Lebanese Army took over the last Syrian intelligence checkpoints on Monday, witnesses said. Lebanese forces were poised to take over Syria’s intelligence headquarters in Anjar and a base in Chtaura within hours, security sources said.

Rustum Ghazaleh, Syria’s intelligence chief in Lebanon, and a token Syrian force will be the last to leave after a farewell ceremony in the Bekaa on Tuesday, security sources said, hours before the United Nations issues a report on whether Syria is complying with a Security Council demand that it withdraw.

The military road that links the two countries will be closed after the farewell ceremony ends, they said.

Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud awarded the Order of the Cedar to Syria’s defense minister and chief of staff for helping rebuild Lebanon’s army and restore stability postwar.

Syria is pulling out of Lebanon in line with the U.N. resolution passed in September. It had vowed to go by April 30 but will be out about four days early.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan overrode U.S. objections to delay the report on Syria’s progress for a week until Tuesday, when a U.N. verification team will arrive in Damascus.

The team hopes to obtain from Syrian officials maps of Syria’s abandoned positions and final reports on the status of its military and intelligence presence in Lebanon, a U.N. official said. The team will then travel to Lebanon, where it is expected to verify the Syrian withdrawal.

Syria sent its forces into Lebanon early in 1976 and has dominated the country since the end of the civil war.

It had already greatly reduced its troop levels in Lebanon from about 40,000 five years ago, but speeded its exit after Hariri’s death threw Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the war, leaving it with no government for seven weeks.

Parliament will debate the policy statement of a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday before holding a vote of confidence on Wednesday that is expected to be passed.

The government would then begin preparations to hold general elections, due before the end of May.

(Additional reporting by Dina al-Wakeel in Beirut and Afif Diab in Anjar)