Lebanon becomes an anti-Syria rally

House lawmakers described Mr. Hariri as a philanthropist who chose to put the future of Lebanon above political interests and used his own funds to assist the country’s economic reconstruction after years of civil war.

Hundreds of thousands jam the streets for the funeral of murdered former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in downtown Beirut. Hariri’s family asked that no state officials from either Lebanon or Syria attend. Michele Norris talks with Nicholas Blanford of the Christian Science Monitor.

The tributes came as part of consideration of a resolution honoring the former Lebanese leader, a final vote on which was postponed until Thursday. But much of the focus during consideration of the resolution honoring Mr. Hariri was devoted to criticism of Syria’s continuing occupation of Lebanon. Syria still has 14-thousand troops in the country.

Darrell Issa, a California Republican, says demonstrations by Lebanese calling for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon underscore the key issue facing the country Men wept uncontrollably as the procession here wound through streets plastered with posters of the Sunni Muslim billionaire slain in a suspected suicide car bombing on Monday.

“Syria out,” mourners shouted as people threw rice from balconies on to an ambulance carrying the body of Hariri, who had joined opposition calls for Syria to end its military presence, maintained since it intervened in 1976 in the civil war. Hariri’s weeping sons and relatives bore his bier, draped in a Lebanese flag, from the ambulance into an unfinished mosque Hariri had financed in downtown Beirut, once shattered by war.

Some people fainted amid chaotic scenes as the crowd surged around the bier before Hariri was laid to rest in the grounds of the mosque a few hundred metres from the seafront. His killing revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and spotlighted Lebanon’s troubled ties with its powerful neighbour, Syria. It has also brought renewed international pressure, led by the US and France, for Syria to quit Lebanon.

The family spurned government offers of a state funeral and made it that clear officials such as Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami and Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh were not welcome to attend. Syria, which has condemned Hariri’s assassination and denied responsibility, made no public comment yesterday.

A security source said at least 150 000 people had joined the funeral march, but other witnesses estimated hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets. Hariri was killed in a suicide bombing Monday in Beirut in an massive explosion which killed an additional 16 people. By asking for international cooperation in probing the murder, the Lebanese leadership is aligning itself with the opposition line, which is charging Damascus with responsibility for the assassination, Reuters said. Hariri’s funeral, which took place Wednesday afternoon in Beirut, was attended by thousands of mourners.