Hizbollah rallies support for Syria to stay in Lebanon
By Tim Butcher in Beirut

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.

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.