The United Nations flew into Beirut Sunday night to make sure that they’re “really gone.” Let’s see how well they can do that.

But UN jabs aside, this is actually really good news, with some corrupt pro-Syria Lebanese security heads resigning as well.

SYRIAN troops complete their withdrawal from Lebanon today, ending almost 30 years of occupation and paving the way for the country????????s first free and fair elections in a generation.

Positions were bulldozed and checkpoints dismantled as the last tanks and artillery guns were removed for the short trip home. Lorries filled with troops and equipment belched black diesel smoke as they ground up the hills of the eastern Bekaa. Green military buses festooned with Syrian flags and portraits of President Assad ferried soldiers across the border.

A monument dedicated to Syrian soldiers who died in Lebanon????????s wars will be unveiled at a ceremony this morning in the Bekaa Valley town of Rayak formally marking an end to Syria????????s military presence.

With almost all Syrian troops gone from Lebanon, Rustom Ghazale, the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, the mukhabarat, has vowed to be the last soldier to leave. Once his vehicle crosses the border at Masnaa today, the military road connecting the two countries will be closed.

Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon????????s feared security chief and a close ally of Damascus, announced his resignation yesterday. Raymond Azar, chief of Lebanese military intelligence, was reported to have fled to France. The security chiefs stand accused of involvement in the murder of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese Prime Minister, whose death heaped pressure on Syria to withdraw.

A Syrian army officer, a camera on his shoulder, stood by the main road at Masnaa filming each vehicle as it passed, capturing for posterity what many Syrians regard as a humiliating retreat. ???????I am sorry to leave like this because the Syrian and Lebanese people are brothers,??????? the officer said. ???????We would have liked to stay.???????

But in the nearby ethnic Armenian town of Anjar, headquarters since 1976 of Syria????????s military intelligence, there was barely disguised delight. ???????We are very happy to see them go,??????? Rafi Tamorian, 25, said. ???????They might be our brothers, but they have been treading on our hearts for too long.???????

Oh, and unrelated…