U.S. Satisfied With Serbian Withdrawal : Bosnia: Pullback from peaks near Sarajevo puts off threat of air strikes. U.S. warns that military action is still possible.

The United States said Friday that it is satisfied with the progress of Bosnian Serb forces in withdrawing from mountain positions that threaten Sarajevo to put off launching air strikes against them.

But the United States also warned that military action remains a possibility until the Serbs relax other restrictions on the Bosnian capital.

U.N. mediators inspected the mountains near Sarajevo on Friday. The State Department said that, while allied air strikes no longer are imminent, the United States and its allies will continue to monitor the situation closely to see that Serbian forces provide “relief from the strangulation of Sarajevo”--by restoring food, water and electricity and ending their shelling of the city.

The U.S. announcement came after U.N. officials in Sarajevo reported that Serbian officers and commanders of the predominantly Muslim government forces had agreed on procedures for Serbian withdrawal from Mt. Igman, one of two strategic peaks overlooking the city. The Serbs already had left the other peak, Mt. Bjelasnica.

Earlier, Washington had threatened to launch air strikes if the Serbs did not retreat. While any air attacks would have been carried out in the name of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it was the United States that pushed alliance members to agree to use force.

The Serbian action paves the way for a resumption, probably Monday, of Bosnian peace talks in Geneva, which had been stalled for most of last week after Muslim leaders walked out in protest of the Serbian shelling of Sarajevo.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher had said that while evacuation of the Serbian forces from the two mountains is a “necessary condition,” it is “not . . . sufficient” by itself to eliminate the allied threat entirely.

“So I wouldn’t want to speculate on precisely where we stand with respect to military power,” Christopher said. “I would emphasize that the issue is really in the hands of the Serbs.”

As described by U.N. officials, Friday’s agreement calls for the Serbs to withdraw completely from Mt. Igman by 4 p.m. today Sarajevo time--7 a.m. in Los Angeles--to a line southeast of the mountain toward Serb-held Hadzici to the northwest.

Gen. Francis Briquemont of Belgium, commander of U.N. forces in Bosnia, told reporters in Sarajevo that U.N. inspectors had confirmed that the Serbs already had withdrawn nearly all their troops.

“From my point of view, the impasse is over,” he said.

In Geneva, European Community envoy Lord Owen and U.N. representative Thorvald Stoltenberg announced that peace negotiations would resume Monday. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, who had boycotted earlier talks until the Serbs were off the two peaks, said he would attend.

Besides evacuating the two mountains that dominate Sarajevo, the Serbs allowed a convoy carrying humanitarian relief supplies into the city late Friday, the first one in days that they had not blocked or disrupted.

Wire service reports said the convoy was made up of eight small trucks loaded with 35 tons of food. That it moved easily through Serbian checkpoints was cited as encouraging by U.N. officials.

Almost immediately after the Serbs’ withdrawal, U.N. peacekeeping forces began moving into the mountains to occupy strategic points from which they hope to control activity on the peaks. About 250 French soldiers have taken up positions there, wire services said.

Despite the apparent easing of the crisis, U.S. officials cautioned that the allies would continue to keep the threat of air strikes in force until they are sure that the Serbs will comply with their demands.

Besides ending the siege of Sarajevo and allowing humanitarian relief supplies to flow unchallenged, the allies also want the Serbs to keep an earlier promise to pursue a peace settlement in Geneva that would give Muslims a share in any partitioning of Bosnia.

Meanwhile, Christopher continued to keep U.S. allies abreast of the situation, passing on updated reports and intelligence photos in an effort to lay the groundwork for another NATO meeting if needed to give the go-ahead for the air strikes.

U.S. officials said both NATO and the United Nations are poised to act quickly once the allies reach a consensus on whether to launch the strikes. The Western powers have been threatening military action for a week.

Christopher was pressured to get tough with the Serbs on Friday during a visit by a delegation of leaders of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a compact of 51 mainly Muslim countries.

Abdul Sattar, foreign minister of Pakistan, told Christopher that Muslims around the world feel “anguish and distress” over the fighting and genocide in Bosnia.