UNITED NATIONS – A U.N. team concluded in a report yesterday that it could not confirm absolutely that Syrian forces have left Lebanon, but Secretary-General Annan declared that Syria has “fully withdrawn.”

The three-man team dispatched to Lebanon last month by the Security Council said that Syrian troops remain in a small Lebanese border area known as Dar el Achaer and that it could not certify that all Syrian intelligence operatives have left Lebanon.

Excepting Dar el Achaer, however, the team – composed of senior members of the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations and headed by Colonel Ian Sinclair – said, “Syrian troops and military assets have been fully and completely withdrawn from Lebanese territory.”

The report, however, noted that it was “unable to conclude with certainty that all the intelligence apparatus has been withdrawn” from Lebanon. Known Syrian intelligence positions have been evacuated, but since intelligence work is clandestine, the report said, intelligence operatives may remain.

Mr. Annan called the report positive and compared its findings to the 2000 Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, which was verified by the U.N. “We worked with the Lebanese and the Israelis to see to the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and today it is the Syrian troops which have been withdrawn. And so, in principle, Lebanon should be free of all foreign forces today,” he said.

The report also stated that the Lebanese and Syrian armies cooperate closely, and that Lebanese officers visit Damascus regularly and Syrian officers might visit Beirut in the future. Also, in areas such as Dar el Achaer, there is no clear border demarcation between the two countries.

The Security Council will discuss the report later this week. French and American diplomats, who have driven the council’s moves to verify Syrian withdrawal, are expected to be skeptical.