U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Syrian President Bashar Assad had given him a "commitment" to completely withdraw his troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.

Following a meeting with Assad during the Arab League summit in Algiers, Annan said the Syrian president confirmed his commitment to U.N. Resolution 1559 which calls for a Syrian withdrawal from its smaller neighbor.

"The withdrawal has begun. He's working out a timetable in consultation with the Lebanese authorities and will withdraw his troops completely into Syrian territory. not just the troops but also the security service," Annan said. He added: "We need to see all of them withdrawn, and President Assad has confirmed to me that that is his intention and he will implement 1559 in full."

Annan failed to announce any timeframe for the complete withdrawal, but a Syrian-Lebanese military committee is due to meet next month to formalize a timetable for the withdrawal of the remaining 10,000-11,000 soldiers that still remain in Lebanon following the evacuation of around 4,000-5,000 troops.

Assad had arrived in Algiers seeking support from Arab leaders against what Damascus called "American pressures and sanctions."

It is understood the League will pass a resolution calling for the U.S. to engage in a "constructive dialogue with Syria." But most Arab nations have urged Assad to comly with the UN resolution.

Meanwhile Arab leaders said Israel cannot expect peace and normalized ties if it does not make concessions and give up occupied lands.

The remarks opening the two-day Arab summit marked a clear shift away from a Jordanian proposal that Arab leaders rejected. In what would have been a dramatic change in Arabs' peace strategy, Jordan had suggested that Arab League members offer diplomatic ties to Israel before it returns occupied lands.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told the summit that Israel should not expect "the Arabs will make concessions and even normalize without anything real in return."

"This shouldn't be," he said. "It should be commitment for commitment. Then we can reach a balanced peace and close the issues of the conflict to establish relations in parallel with the withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the summit host, said peace with Israel remains an "Arab strategic option." But he said it should be based on Israel returning all lands it seized in a 1967 Middle East war.

Only 13 heads of state from the league's 22 members attended the summit. Others stayed away either for health reasons or due to personal disputes with other members, sending lower-level officials in their place.

Jordan's King Abdullah II shook up the summit preparations with his peace initiative. When it was rejected, he did not attend. Jordan had argued that if Arab nations go ahead with normalization, it would prompt Israel to make major peace concessions.

A spokesman in Israel, which had praised Abdullah's initiative, called Moussa's stance "self-defeating."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the only way to solve Arab-Israeli differences is "through negotiations and dialogue. A position that says we will not talk to you until we solve all the problems is self defeating."

Moussa did not mention the Jordanian proposal, but dismissed the idea of normalization. "Israel is pressing to gain concessions without anything in return. It imagines that our rights will be forgotten and that the support and immunity it enjoys will allow it to continue in building settlements and erecting the imperialist wall and keeping the Occupied Territories - or most of them," he said.

Moussa took a hard line going into the summit, insisting that Arab nations will not "move a millimeter" from the position that ties with Israel can come only after it hands over land.

The summit is expected to endorse a text reaffirming a Saudi peace initiative approved in 2002.

That initiative said Arab states were prepared to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for its full withdrawal from occupied Arab territory, the creation of a Palestinian state and settlement of the Palestinian refugee issue.

Pressed by the United States to move toward democracy and combat Islamic terrorism, Arab leaders took a defensive tone, saying that reform cannot be imposed from outside.

Bouteflika said terrorism should be defined in a way "that everyone in the United Nations can agree on."

Moussa said Arab nations should support Iraqi stability and back Sudan in trying to end the Darfur crisis.

"Finally, there is Lebanon, to which our hearts go out during this critical stage which it is going through, and it is hoping for sincere and active Arab support," he added.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud exhorted Arab leaders to back Beirut's pro-Syrian policies in a statement distributed by the Lebanese delegation to the leaders at the summit.

"Lebanon asks its Arab brethren to back its policies of solidarity with Syria," he said.

Lahoud said his country's policies also "protect the (anti-Israeli) resistance, reject the permanent settlements of (Palestinian) refugees and demands the return of its territory still occupied" by Israel.

"Israel is threatening Lebanon and is putting all sorts of pressure on it," he said.

He also accused Israel of being responsible for Resolution 1559, which calls for Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon.

Lahoud canceled his participation in the Arab summit, citing the precarious situation in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Iraq's outgoing government pleaded for help with the political process Tuesday but Arab leaders gave Iraq cursory treatment in their speeches.

"We need the Arabs to be more supportive and to abandon the wait-and-see attitude toward Iraq," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters in Algiers. "Iraq is making progress on the political process and needs the support of its Arab brothers. We expect them not to fail us."

But the Arab heads of state who spoke at the opening session had little to say on the subject.