By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer LONDON – The United States called for an immediate end to Syrian military and political dominion over neighboring Lebanon on Tuesday, applying its strongest pressure to date.  “The Syrians are out of step with where the region is going and out of step with the aspirations of the people of the Middle East,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. She blamed terrorists operating in Syria for last week’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Rice said there was gathering international resolve that Syria must pull out of Lebanon and allow the Lebanese to choose their own political future. That choice must be independent of “contaminating influences,” she said, underscoring a joint U.S.-French statement on Tuesday and a United Nations resolution last fall.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he expected Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon in a few months, as hundreds of Lebanese protesters returned to central Beirut on Tuesday demanding Syria quit their country. Syria has 14,000 troops in Lebanon, but its dominant role in the country has come under increasing pressure as a result of mass demonstrations sparked by the assassination last month of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Two weeks of unprecedented protests forced the pro-Syrian cabinet of Prime Minister Omar Karami to step down on Monday, piling pressure on Damascus, and left officials with a complicated search for a new premier.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Thousands of people defied a government ban and massed in the heart of Beirut as Lebanese parliament held a stormy debate set to culminate in a vote of no-confidence in the pro-Syrian regime.  The anti-Syria rally came exactly two weeks after the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri which triggered a wave of public opposition against the Lebanese government and its backers in Damascus who are blamed for the murder. Waving large red and white Lebanese flags and shouting “Syria out!” protesters descended on Martyrs’ Square where Hariri is buried as hundreds of heavily armed troops and police guarded surrounding streets but did not prevent the rally.

By Lucy Fielder BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Syrian-backed government banned protests planned for Monday but a main opposition figure vowed the Lebanese would take to the streets to demand who killed former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh called on security forces in a statement on Sunday “to take all necessary steps to preserve security and order and prevent demonstrations and gatherings on Monday.” Opposition groups have called a protest at the central Martyrs Square by Hariri’s grave and a one-day strike to coincide with a parliamentary debate on the killing that for many recalled Lebanon’s bitter 1975-90 civil war.

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