http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/09/wleb09.xml
Hizbollah rallies support for Syria to stay in Lebanon
By Tim Butcher in Beirut
(Filed: 09/03/2005)
Lebanon's deep divisions were laid bare yesterday when hundreds of
thousands of people rallied in the centre of Beirut, denouncing
America and rejecting demands for Syrian troops to leave the country.
The march was organised by Hizbollah, the Islamist party that is
denounced by America as a terrorist group but which enjoys massive
popular support in Lebanon from the sizeable Shia minority and has
close links with Damascus.
The protest was attended by 200,000 pro-Syrian supporters
Roars of "America Out" rose from the crowd, some of whom carried
placards denouncing President Bush. One cartoon banner mocked him as a
cowboy puppet under Israeli control.
The enormous turn-out of pro-Syrian support, the biggest protest of
Lebanon's current political crisis, came after weeks when the centre
of Beirut belonged to people demonstrating against Damascus and the
stationing of 14,000 Syrian troops on Lebanese soil.
The anti-Syrian contingent yesterday maintained its presence in
another central square 300 yards from the Hizbollah crowds.
While there were no clashes between the two rival groups, the country
remains volatile. The danger is that Lebanon could plunge into a
repeat of the 1975-1990 civil war. It has been without a government
since the the pro-Syrian administration resigned last week in the face
of public disgust over the assassination of former prime minister
Rafik Hariri, who had dared stand up to the Syrians.
Disciplined and well-organised, Hizbollah mobilised about 200,000
supporters, although the day was carefully presented as a display of
national sentiment rather than a party rally.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the organisation's chief, decreed that no
party banners were to be displayed and the masses obeyed. All that
could be seen were thousands of red and white Lebanese flags
fluttering in the wind.
"I am here to show the whole world that those other demonstrators do
not speak for all Lebanese people," said Ali Muhammad, a Beirut
businessman.
"We are the majority and for us the Syrians are the friends who helped
us end the Israeli occupation of Lebanon.
"If you put Israel out of the door, they will come back in through the
window and that is through America.''
In the crowd there was a palpable sense of hatred towards America,
which is behind the United Nations Security Council Resolution
demanding that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
There were scattered movements of Syrian troops late on Monday and
yesterday on the roads in the central mountains and in northern
Lebanon towards the Bekaa valley border region. But the withdrawal was
nowhere near as convincing as the show of strength in Beirut.
Security was high and the Lebanese army parked armoured personnel
carriers along the main road separating the rival groups' squares.
Sheikh Nasrallah, a turbaned, bearded figure who commands fanatical
support among Lebanon's Shia community, the largest religious group in
the country, gave a speech sprinkled with anti-American rhetoric. He
denounced the UN resolution, not least because it called on all
militia in Lebanon, including Hizbollah, to disarm.
"The Syrian presence is not only military � Syria is in our hearts,
our spirits and our souls," Sheikh Nasrallah said. "We are united here
to above all thank Syria, the Syrian people and the Syrian army, which
has stayed by our side for many long years and is still with us."
Hizbollah has responded carefully to the recent emergence of
anti-Syrian sentiment. For weeks it said nothing publicly but by
declaring unequivocal support for Syria yesterday the party has turned
the election in May into a referendum on Syrian involvement in Lebanon.
A Syrian official in Damascus yesterday claimed that its intelligence
agents in Lebanon would be pulled back along with the troops. The
agents have been a particular source of resentment.
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