Thousands at Hariri's funeral

At least 150,000 Lebanese turned the funeral of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri yesterday into an outpouring of public anger against Syria, blamed by opposition leaders for the bomb that killed him.

Men wept uncontrollably as the procession wound through Beirut streets plastered with posters of the Sunni Muslim billionaire slain in a suspected suicide car bombing on Monday.

"Syria out, Syria out," the mourners shouted as people threw rice from balconies onto an ambulance carrying the body of a man who had joined calls for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon.

A US envoy in Beirut for the funeral said Syria must take Mr Hariri's death as a cue to end a military presence maintained since a 1976 civil war intervention and stop political meddling.

In tears, Mr Hariri's sons and relatives bore his flag-draped coffin from the ambulance into an unfinished mosque Mr Hariri had financed in Beirut's once war-shattered downtown.

Some mourners fainted amid chaotic scenes as the crowd surged around the coffin before Mr Hariri was laid to rest in the grounds of the mosque a few hundred metres from the seafront.

Mr Hariri's family spurned government offers of a state funeral and made clear top Syrian-backed officials were not welcome.

His killing revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and spotlighted Lebanon's troubled ties with Syria. It has brought renewed international pressure for the Syrians to leave in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted last year.

Lebanon has resisted growing calls for an international investigation into the bombing but feeling the pressure, the military judiciary said yesterday Swiss explosives and DNA experts would be brought in to facilitate the investigation.

French President Jacques Chirac, a personal friend of Mr Hariri, arrived in Beirut and went straight to the Hariri family mansion to "pay homage to a man who was my friend and also a great democrat, a statesman, a man of peace".

US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns said Mr Hariri's death "must give renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon" adding this meant the "complete and immediate withdrawal" of all Syrian forces.

President George W. Bush's administration recalled its ambassador to Damascus on Tuesday for consultations.

Syria, which has condemned Mr Hariri's assassination and denied responsibility, reacted calmly to the recall, and its ambassador to Washington called for dialogue, not confrontation.

Imad Moustapha told CNN he saw no immediate US threat to Syria, but said he was "appalled" by the political atmosphere and blame being placed on Syria for Hariri's death.

"We think that the atrocious crime that took place in Beirut two days ago ... should not be used for political reasons to score points against Syria," Mr Moustapha said.

People in the streets of Damascus voiced particular shock at the strident criticism of Syria's role from the Lebanese.

"If they feel this way, then I say we should withdraw and let them break each other like falling water melons," said a Syrian student who gave his name as Amjad.