UNITED NATIONS – Syria is using all its influence in neighboring Lebanon and in world capitals to blunt the effects of a United Nations report to the Security Council that is expected to be critical of Damascus.

In defiance of last month’s Security Council resolution that called on “all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon,” Syria, which has an estimated 20,000 troops in Lebanon, has redeployed some 3,000 troops from the Beirut area to the strategic Baqaa valley.

“I’ve seen statements from Damascus that some of the Syrian troops are being withdrawn,” Secretary of State Powell said yesterday in an interview with Al Jazeera. “I can’t confirm that they actually have gone back to Syria or how many may have gone back to Syria. We hope that Syria will do everything that is asked of it under the resolution.”

The September 2 Council resolution requested Secretary-General Annan to report on its implementation. Details of the report, which is expected to be presented tomorrow to council members, are being closely guarded by Mr. Annan’s aides, as final touches are put on what is considered to be an extremely sensitive document.

Syria, while officially announcing that its troop redeployment had nothing to do with the council resolution, hoped the maneuver would be enough for Mr. Annan to avoid a highly critical report, but U.N. officials are skeptical.

“The resolution said ‘all forces’ should leave,” Mr. Annan’s top Middle Eastern envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, told The New York Sun last week, when asked if the partial redeployment would be satisfactory. But while Mr. Larsen is expected to deliver most of the factual details in the report, its final tone will be shaped by Mr. Annan’s closest advisers, who have traditionally avoided strong criticism of a member state.

At the same time that the U.N. struggles with the report, Prime Minister Hariri is expected to meet with the President Chirac in Paris today.

According to reports in the Lebanese press, Mr. Hariri, who had visited Damascus before flying to Paris, is expected to plead Syria’s case for easing the diplomatic pressure. An AFP report from Beirut, however, quotes French diplomats as saying that Paris plans to keep the pressure on by establishing a system of regular monthly council reports.

Mr. Hariri, a wealthy businessman, is a longtime ally of Mr. Chirac. He is also a rival of President Lahoud, a pro-Syrian whose term in office was extended last month by the Parliament, after it voted to amend the constitution. That Syrian-inspired vote in the Parliament triggered last month’s council resolution, which expressed its support for the independence of the Lebanese political process.

After initially opposing the extension of Mr. Lahoud’s presidency, Mr. Hariri was called to Damascus. After meetings there he abruptly changed his position, announcing his support for the constitutional change. He was called to Damascus again this week prior to his Paris visit.

Mr. Hariri’s Paris visit “is important because of its timing and because of the weight of France,” the pro-Syrian deputy prime minister, Issam Fares, was quoted by AFP after meeting Mr. Annan in New York yesterday.

Meanwhile, Washington, according to diplomats, hopes to use the pressure on Damascus to gain its cooperation in the war against terror, and specifically in closing the porous Syrian border with Iraq.

“We have American delegations that are in Damascus now discussing with Syrian authorities what we can do together to stop infiltrations and going across the border, and how we can work to improve relations between the Syrians and the Iraqis and between the Syrians and the United States,” Mr. Powell told Al Jazeera.