1. Pan of Roumieh prison

2. Mid of police checkpoint outside prison

3. Various of convoys leaving prison

4. Arrival of General Ali al-Hajj's convoy at his residence, pan of cheering crowd

5. Al-Hajj's wife, Samar, standing through vehicle skylight and cheering with supporters

6. Various of Al-Hajj being hoisted onto the shoulders of supporters

7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Ali al-Hajj, Released General:

"I came back to those who love me."

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Son of the slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the head of Parliamentarian majority:

"I am announcing, clearly and directly, that I welcome any decision issued by the International Tribunal. Whether related to the fate if these four generals or on any related issue concerning the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri or any of the other assassinations that targeted the Lebanese leadership."

9. Various of General Jamil al-Sayyed arriving at his residence

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jamil al-Sayyed, Released General:

"Saad Hariri needs to find out who killed his father and in order to find out, he must hold people accountable. Before all else, he should hold his media sources accountable and the the politicians who lied on him. Also (prosecutor) Said Mirzah and the judges who conducted these interrogations as well as the officers who fabricated information: Zuhair Al-Sidiq, Husam Husam (alleged witnesses) and others."

11. Mid of photographers

Lebanon released four generals held for nearly four years in the 2005 truck-bomb assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri after a United Nations-backed tribunal ordered them freed on Wednesday.

One of the officers was cheered by a crowd of hundreds outside his house and another was hoisted onto the shoulders of family and friends and showered by rose petals as supporters danced and blew whistles.

Their release from a Beirut prison left the international tribunal in the Netherlands with no suspects in custody after a four-year UN investigation into an assassination that triggered enormous political turmoil in Lebanon.

The tribunal's decision - after prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to justify their continued detention - could also have an immediate political impact as Lebanon is heading into a crucial parliamentary election on June 7.

The generals had been held since August 2005 for suspected involvement in the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in February of that year.

Former General Security chief Major General Jamil al-Sayyed, the first of the generals to appear in public after their release, spoke to hundreds of cheering supporters outside his house.

He lashed out at authorities for what he called their "political detention," but said he does not seek revenge.

Al-Sayyed was released along with General Ali al-Hajj, the ex-Internal Security Forces director general; Brigadier General Raymond Azar, the former military intelligence chief; and the former Presidential Guards commander, Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan.

Tribunal judge Daniel Fransen demanded that Lebanese authorities protect the generals after he ordered their unconditional release and said they should no longer be considered suspects.

Fransen said a key witness had retracted a statement that initially incriminated the generals, undermining the case against them.

Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare said in court he would not appeal. He said in a written submission this week that the evidence available to him currently "is not sufficiently credible" to keep detaining the four generals.

So far, Bellemare has not indicted anyone and has not identified any other suspects in the suicide bombing.

Hariri's son, Saad - who is head of Parliamentarian majority - said in a televised address that he accepted the tribunal's decision.

His father's assassination sparked mass protests that forced Syria's army out of the country after about three decades of political and military domination by Lebanon's neighbour.

As prime minister, Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was credited with rebuilding downtown Beirut after the 1975-90 civil war, and with trying to limit Syria's influence in the last months before his assassination.

Many blamed Syria for his killing - an accusation that Syria denies.