Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister-designate Umar Karami plans to stand down because of his failure to form a national unity government, according to his adviser.

"Mr Karami is to meet parliament speaker Nabih Birri on Tuesday before being received by President Emile Lahud on Wednesday to inform him of his refusal to form a new cabinet that is not a government of national unity," the aide, Khaldun Sharif, said on Tuesday.

"The prime minister is sticking by his undertaking to form only a government of national unity."

The pro-Syrian prime minister resigned on 28 February in the face of a wave of protests sparked by the killing of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in a bomb blast two weeks earlier.

But on 10 March Lahud invited Karami to form a new government.

In a related development, the general in charge of Lebanese military intelligence - whose resignation the opposition is demanding - stepped aside on Tuesday by taking a one-month leave, a military official said.

Major-General Raymond Azar, the director of military intelligence, took a one-month "administrative leave", the official said.

The anti-Syrian opposition had been demanding the resignation of Azar, four other generals and the prosecutor-general.

The head of intelligence in the Mount Lebanon province was appointed to fill the post in Azar's absence.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Syrian soldier stands guard at his position in Bekaa Valley east of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, March 29, 2005, as more Syrian forces are expected to leave this week. (AP)