Funeral Becomes Anti-Syria Rally

Mourners Chant 'Syria Out!' At Burial Of Slain Lebanese Leader

(CBS/AP)  In an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger, mourners shouted "Syria — Out!" as they crowded Beirut's streets Wednesday to bury their former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. The country's pro-Syrian president stayed away — warned not to come by Hariri supporters who blame Damascus for his death.

In Syria, government officials stayed silent as American and U.N. pressure continued to mount.

The assassination "angered the international community, and this requires that we shed the light on this heinous, indescribable act," said French President Jacques Chirac, a friend of Hariri's who flew here to offer condolences.

The U.S. representative at the funeral, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, called again on Syria to withdraw its troops — a further spike in U.S.-Syrian tensions a day after the U.S. recalled its ambassador from Damascus.

"Mr. Hariri's death should give — in fact it must give — renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon," Burns said after a meeting later in the day with Lebanon's foreign minister.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Administration policy on Lebanon and Syria will rely on enforcement of U.N. resolution 1559 requiring withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon, reports CBS News Foreign Affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

"Rice made clear — in advance of the President's trip to Europe — that the U.S. will rely on the United Nations to take the lead in Lebanon," says Falk.

Along the funeral route through downtown Beirut, mourners hung Lebanese flags from balconies and held aloft pictures of the former prime minister, who was assassinated Monday by a massive bomb that also killed 16 others.

A huge crowd first gathered outside Hariri's house, then marched for two hours behind the ambulance carrying his coffin to the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in central Beirut, which the slain billionaire had built and where he was buried.

An estimated 200,000 people gathered around the mosque for the noonday funeral prayers, hanging from scaffolding and street lights to catch a glimpse of the coffin, draped in Lebanon's red, white and green flag.

On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council demanded Lebanon bring the culprits to justice and asked Secretary General Kofi Annan to report urgently on the causes of the terrorist act.

"The United Nations is hoping to internationalize the conflict in order to avoid a return to the bloody civil war period," reports CBS' Falk.

Screaming, weeping mourners turned out to pay tribute to Hariri, who many credit with rebuilding Lebanon after its devastating 1975-90 civil war.

But the funeral was also seen as a protest against Syria, which has long been this country's main powerbroker and which still maintains 15,000 troops — and an extensive intelligence network — here.

As the mourners marched through central Beirut, young men shouted insults at Syrian President Bashar Assad, calling on him to "remove your dogs from Beirut" — a reference to Syrian intelligence agents.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, stayed away from the funeral after being warned not to come by Hariri supporters, who blame his government and Damascus for his assassination.

Syrian TV broadcast Lebanese television footage of the funeral, but authorities in Damascus were quiet.

Hariri, 60, was Lebanon's prime minister for 10 of the 14 years after the country's civil war. He resigned last year amid opposition to a Syrian-backed constitutional amendment that enabled his rival, Lahoud, to extend his term in office.

Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a close Hariri friend, attended the mosque service, but made no comments.

However, Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, said people insinuating Syria had a role in the attack were "lacking logic," and said such claims were aimed at damaging Syria.

A huge security operation kept order at the funeral, which drew the largest crowd ever seen in Lebanon, aside from a Mass in Beirut by Pope John Paul II in 1997 that attracted almost 1 million people.

Breaking with Islamic tradition, hundreds of weeping women waving white handkerchiefs also joined men in the march.

Grieving relatives, including his three sons, carried Hariri's coffin from an ambulance and through the crowd. Many scrambled to touch the casket, while thousands chanted "there is no God but Allah."

Hariri's eldest son, Baha, climbed on top of several people's shoulders at one point to plead into a microphone for calm as the coffin arrived at the mosque.

"We don't want his last minutes to be like this — step back away from his body," he shouted.

Soon after, aides supported the son on either side as he walked to an ambulance, suffering from exhaustion, and then was taken home.