The protests led to Mr. Karami 's resignation last week and prompted Syria 's president , Bashar al-Assad , to say he would start withdrawing his troops from Lebanon , which they first entered in 1976 .
Bashar al-Assad /people/person/nationality Syria
DT NNS VBD TO NNP NNP POS NN JJ NN CC VBD NNP POS NN , NNP NNP , TO VB PRP MD VB VBG PRP$ NNS IN NNP , WDT PRP RB VBD IN CD .
Bashar al-Assad
PERSON
Syria
LOCATION
/people/person/nationality