Syria began yesterday the final phase of a troop pullout ending 29 years of military presence in Lebanon where consultations for a new Cabinet to oversee much-awaited legislative elections gathered momentum. As the remaining Syrian forces officially began their final return home, Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah vowed that the troops would complete the pullout well before an April 30 deadline. "The Syrian pullout may take place well before the end of the month, just as it did for the first phase that was due to end at the end of March and actually wrapped up in the middle of the month," Dakhlallah was quoted by the Lebanese press as saying in an interview with US-funded Radio Sawa. A senior Lebanese military official said the final phase had begun for the remaining 8,000 troops in the eastern Bekaa Valley where Syria has pulled back all its remaining forces in Lebanon.