Syria's Assad calls Israel's Qana attack terrorism

Alertnet

Israel's attack on a building in the Lebanese village of Qana that killed at least 54 civilians, including 37 children, constitutes "state terrorism", Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday.

"The massacre committed by Israel in Qana this morning shows the barbarity of this aggressive entity. It constitutes state terrorism committed in front of the eyes and ears of the world," Assad said in remarks carried by state news agency SANA.

It said Assad telephoned his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud to express his shock.

Syria, a main backer of Hizbollah, has been supplying electricity, fuel and humanitarian aid to Lebanon, whose infrastructure has been targeted by Israeli attacks.

Syria has also received more than 150,000 Lebanese refugees since the war began on June 12.

The United States and other Western governments accuse Iran and Syria of supporting the Hizbollah guerrillas in their fight against Israel. Link

db: In supporting Hizbollah Syria appears to have something in common with the overwhelming majority of Lebanese. From CSM:

According to a poll released by the Beirut Center for Research and Information, 87 percent of Lebanese support Hizbullah's fight with Israel, a rise of 29 percent on a similar poll conducted in February. More striking, however, is the level of support for Hizbullah's resistance from non-Shiite communities. Eighty percent of Christians polled supported Hizbullah along with 80 percent of Druze and 89 percent of Sunnis.

Lebanese no longer blame Hizbullah for sparking the war by kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, but Israel and the US instead.

The latest poll by the Beirut Center found that 8 percent of Lebanese feel the US supports Lebanon, down from 38 percent in January.

"This support for Hizbullah is by default. It's due to US and Israeli actions," says Saad-Ghorayeb, whose father, Abdo, conducted the poll.

[Note that the poll took place before the Israeli Qana attack.]