JEDEIDET YABOUS, Syria - President Bashar Assad reiterated his commitment to withdrawing all Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, a U.N. envoy said Saturday, indicating that he had received a timetable for the pullout. Meanwhile, a convoy of Syrian troops returning home received a rousing welcome.

The long convoy of vehicles carrying Syrian soldiers returned home amid a heavy snowfall early Saturday to the cheers of Syrian well-wishers, who chanted "Syria! Syria!" while handing out flowers and throwing rice.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen did not give any details about timing after meeting with Assad in the northern city of Aleppo, but said he would discuss the matter at the United Nations next week.

"I will present U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan with further details of the timetable for a complete Syrian pullout from Lebanon upon arrival in New York early next week," Roed-Larsen said in a statement read to The Associated Press by Roed-Larsen's spokesman Najib Friji.

Chants of "Syria we love you" erupted from a crowd of about 300 men, women and children as 62 military trucks hauling supplies, eight buses loaded with soldiers and jeeps carrying officers crossed into Syria. The convoy also included a battle tank on a truck.

The civilians, sheltering in the cold under the roof of a Syrian customs drivethrough point, also waved Syrian flags or blew whistles. A heavy snowfall delayed the crossing.

Some people handed flowers to the soldiers, others threw rice, rose petals and sweets at the vehicles in the traditional Arab welcome. A group sang nationalist songs to the beat of drums.

Soldiers responded by flashing victory signs. One climbed atop a vehicle to hold a picture of Assad.

A Syrian officer at the border, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 1,000 soldiers made the crossing.

Assad decided a week ago to call Syria's 14,000 troops home after relentless U.S.-led international pressure and anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon. By late Friday, almost all of Syria's troops in Lebanon had moved into the eastern Bekaa Valley - nearly three weeks ahead of a March 31 target date to complete the first phase of redeployment.

Syrian troops crossed into Lebanon in 1976 ostensibly as peacekeepers as the smaller Arab neighborhood was engulfed in civil war. The war continued for another 14 years and Syria was drawn into it. In 1990, when the war ended, Syria emerged as the main power broker.