Beirut government backs Syrian troop presence despite demonstrations

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Lebanese government leaders have dismissed demonstrations that call for a Syrian troop withdrawal from their country.

Instead, the leaders have joined with Hizbullah commanders to praise the Syrian troop presence and Syrian President Hafez Assad.

In Beirut, government troops broke up a demonstration by labor unions. Hundreds of demonstrators marched to call for an end to Syria's occupation of the Lebanon.

Both government leaders and Hizbullah said they support Syrian military presence in Lebanon. They said they will follow the lead of the Assad regime and launch a government campaign against corruption.

In the eastern Lebanese town of Douris, government leaders inaugurated a monument to Assad. Defense Minister Ghazi Zaitar represented President Emile Lahoud at the ceremony to unveil the three-meter bronze statue of Assad in the Bekaa Valley.

"We would like to see the mutual confidence enjoyed today by Lebanon and Syria shored up by budding generations and baptized in honesty," Zaitar said.

Lebanese Oil Minister Suleiman Traboulsi showered Assad with praise, calling him Salah Eddin, the Arab hero who ousted the Crusaders from Jerusalem nearly 800 years ago.

Lebanese parliamentarian Mahmoud Abu Hamdan, who represented speaker Nabi Berri, went even further. "No one can hold water to President Assad," Abu Hamdan said. "This man possess the very male virility. After the civil war, no one offered to arm the Lebanese soldiers except Syria."