DAMASCUS, Syria, June 13 -- Syria's longtime President Hafez Assad, who died Saturday, was laid to rest near the tomb of his eldest son Bassel at their hometown of Qerdaha in the northern part of the country.
Son and presumed successor Bashar was surrounded by his two bothers, Vice-President Abdel Halim Khaddam, Defense Minister Gen. Mustafa Tlas, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and dozens of family members and party officials when Assad was buried in an indoor crypt next to Bassel, who died in a car accident in early 1994.
Lahoud, a Christian, was the only foreign leader attending the burial ceremony. He prayed alongside Bashar over Assad's coffin. Also present were Lebanese Prime Minister Selim Hoss and House Speaker Nabih Berri.
The mourners shouted "Allah Akbar -- There is no God but God" and raised a large picture of Assad with a black ribbon was raised while he was laid to rest.
A large crowd of officials and civilians were praying as they waited outside the cemetery for Bashar to pay their condolences. ..Shortly before, Bashar joined hundreds of family members, officials and clerics in praying over the casket of his father in the nearby Naesah Mosque. He appeared somber as the mosque imam (speaker) wept in prayer after scores of weeping mourners calmed down following a frenzy to reach for Assad's casket. Many rushed to kiss the coffin, prompting guards push them away to allow the prayers to start.
Bashar was in control, but fought back tears as he stood before his father's coffin.
"This is God's will but our consolation is Bashar," said parliamentarian Marwan Shaykho, who gave a brief speech inside the mosque after the prayers. "We are all with you and we ask God to be with you although sorrow is destroying us (for Assad's death)."
Bashar murmured back: "Inshallah (May God will)" as many shouted: "With Soul, with Blood, we redeem you Bashar."
As the casket carrying Assad's body arrived from Damascus in Qerdaha, thousands of weeping mourners on both sides of the road waved and tried to follow the cortege, forcing hundreds of soldiers and security men to push them back.
Assad's coffin, draped with Syrian flag, was flown by plane from the military airport of Mazze in Damascus where similar funeral procession took place.
Hundreds of thousands of grief-stricken Syrians had crammed streets of Damascus since early morning to bid an emotional farewell to their longtime leader, Hafez Assad.
Several world leaders and Arab officials also paid their last respects to the late president who ruled Syria for 30 years.
At the sound of a 21-gun salute and somber music, Army officers carried Assad's coffin on their shoulders from his house in the Malki neighborhood to a caisson. The coffin, wrapped with the Syrian flag, was followed by Bashar, two other sons, Maher and Majd, as well as Vice President Khaddam, Gen. Tlas and other Baath Party, government and army officials.
The cortege headed to Umayyad Square where thousands, many of whom spent the night there, gathered for a last glimpse of Assad, who died at the age of 69 on Saturday. Verses from the Koran were broadcast from mosque loudspeakers and church bells echoed as the cortege struggled down the Mazze highway.
Hundreds ran after the procession, waving pictures of Assad and his likely successor, Bashar. They shouted, "Allah Akbar (God is Great)," and many were overcome with emotion as the cortege approached. Several women wept hysterically and fainted. Men and women with black headbands that read "Bashar forever," gathered in groups and chanted slogans in support of Bashar.
"With soul and blood, we redeem you Bashar," they shouted. "Allah, Syria and only Bashar."
But they did not forget Israel at these critical times. A group of young men shouted: "(Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Barak Listen, Syrian people do not kneel, Bashar will not kneel."
A man said President Assad spent 30 years in power "and died before he signed" a peace accord with Israel. He said "we expect Bashar to do the same and remain firm" to regain Syria's rights before concluding peace.
Thousands of police and internal security forces were deployed along the roads to try to hold back crowds. Assad's coffin was taken to the People's Palace in the Jabal Qassioun area, overlooking Damascus, where Vice President Khaddam, a longtime companion to the late president, helped carry it inside.
Somber music echoed as the coffin was placed inside one of the palace's rooms to allow mourners to pay their last respects. One by one, Assad's longtime companions in the Baath Party, ministers, parliamentarians and army generals entered the room and read verses of the Koran before his coffin.
They were followed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Jordan's King Abdallah, Kuwaiti Emir Jaber al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, Sudanese President Hassan Omar al-Bashir, Arab-League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel Meguid, as well as Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and hundreds of Lebanese political, religious, military and party officials.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa greeted the dignitaries and escorted them to pay their condolences to a composed Bashar Assad, his two brothers and other officials.
French President Jacques Chirac and Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer were the only Western heads of state to attend Assad's funeral.
The foreign and popular participation in the funeral was seen as "a pledge of allegiance" for Bashar to succeed his father as Syria's President.
