By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - A visiting senior U.S. State Department official on Sunday brushed off accusations Washington's calls for Syria to leave Lebanon as soon as possible amounted to interference in Lebanese internal affairs.  David Satterfield, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, was scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud to convey the U.S. demand for a full and immediate withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon and the need for a thorough inquiry into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Satterfield, pressed after a meeting with Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite Catholic Church, about whether Washington considers there to be a deadline for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, said: "We want to see it take place as soon as possible."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The murder of their former prime minister has united the people of Lebanon behind ending a 15-year Syrian occupation, a top US Mideast diplomat said, pointing to such a move as overdue. In response to Rafiq Hariri's slaying 11 days ago, Lebanese demonstrators demanded Syria withdraw from the country. Beirut announced Thursday an imminent pull back of Syrian troops to the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border. "The assassination, the terrorist murder, of prime minister Hariri has had a very significant impact," US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield told US-funded Alhurra television.

By Nadim Ladki  BEIRUT (Reuters) - A U.N. team began an inquiry in Beirut on Friday into former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's assassination, which the Lebanese opposition blamed on Syria.  Syrian troops in Mount Lebanon and northern parts of the country stayed put, a day after Damascus announced it was planning to pull back its troops toward the border in line with the Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. The U.N. Security Council, angered by the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 17 others, had asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan  to report urgently on "the circumstances, causes and consequences of the assassination."

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer  ALEY, Lebanon - Syrian soldiers stationed in the mountains overlooking Beirut and in Lebanon's northern regions went about their daily chores Friday, exercising, manning posts