Mourning ceremony held on the 40-day elapse of President al-Assad's death

A large ceremony was held on Thursday in al-Qerdaha, the birth place town of the late President Hafez al-Assad. It was held on the eulogy of the Late President.

It was attended by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud; the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, the prime minister, former President Elias Hrawi, Major Maher al-Assad, Jamil al-Assad ( brother of the late President), the assistant secretary of the Baath Party Abdullah al-Ahmar, the two vice presidents, the speaker of the parliament Abdul Qader Qaddoura, the prime minister, the Cabinet ministers and crowded number of Syrian citizens.

It was also attended by former Yemeni President Ali Nasser Muhammad, the Secretary General of the Arab League Ismat Abdul Miguid, the personal representative of the UAE President, the representative for the Iranian President, besides Muslim and Christian men of religion, and delegations from Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine, Algeria and Iraq and high ranking officials and a big number of citizens from various country's provinces.

The eulogy which lasted for five and a half hours and attended by 21 speakers and poets was held amid tough security measures. Great backing was voiced for Syria by the speakers.

The representative of the Egyptian President Osama al-Baz stressed that Egypt will stay with Syria "in one trenchí while the representative for the Iranian President Muhammad Ali Abtahi said that Syria and Iran will stay side by side."

The speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri promised that Lebanon will be with the " new captain of the ship." The secretary general of the Hizbullah party Hassan Nasrullah promised to continue "the militant march until we restore back every inch of the occupied Lebanese territories and every inch of the Syrian territories and firstly and lastly Jerusalem is Palestine, all of Palestine from the sea to the river."

In his speech Khaddam described the late president "as a strategist who planned for the March revolution of 1963 and in the first years of the revolution (until 1970 ) and waged a struggle in leading the party so as to enhance the internal front and achieve Arab solidarity to counter the Israeli aggression, liberate the land and restore the rights."

Palestinian intellectual Azmi Beshara, on behalf of the Palestinians of 1948 who came from Israel delivered a speech in which he asserted Arab identity. He said: "We have come to you as Arab Palestinians. We come to you from a country where the national identity has become an urgent must to preserve the self."

Several other speakers from Palestine, Lebanon and other Arab states delivered speeches and poems were read by prominent poets and eulogies in which they the traits and great qualities of the late President Hafez al-Assad and his national stances towards Arab and Syrian issues.