SYRIA has defied American demands to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and to disarm Hezbollah militants, insisting that Israel must first pull out of the Golan Heights.

The government in Damascus has been under growing pressure from Washington since last week’s assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and forthright critic of Syria’s military presence in his country. President George W Bush recalled the US ambassador to Syria and demanded an international investigation of the killing.

Ayman Abdel Nour, a leading Syrian analyst, said yesterday that Damascus had now told senior American officials that a unilateral withdrawal of its 15,000 troops was out of the question until Israel ended its occupation of the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed 14 years later.

“Syria has national interests which must be fulfilled before it can withdraw from Lebanon and this has been relayed to American members of Congress, the Senate and the State Department,” Nour said. “If the United States uses its leverage and pressures Israel fully to return the Golan Heights, only then can Syria fully withdraw from Lebanon.”

Nour also said Syria was concerned that if its forces were driven out of Lebanon in a humiliating manner, it could lead to a rift between the peoples of the two countries which would “last for generations”.

The Syrian army and intelligence services have dominated Lebanon since they were first invited into the country by Lebanese Christian leaders in 1976. The troops have remained despite the end of the 15-year civil war and an agreement in 1989 that called for their withdrawal to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.

Hariri’s killing has refocused attention on the continued Syrian presence. Supporters of Damascus claim that its forces stabilise Lebanon and that their removal would push the country back to civil war.

Opponents say that after suffering countless deaths and injuries, the Lebanese are capable of maintaining their own security and are unwilling to allow themselves to be dragged back into conflict.

To Lebanese opposition leaders, the assassination appears to have been a deliberate attempt to intimidate and silence them. Instead, they say, it has rallied the country around them.

As Hariri was laid to rest the once warring Druze, Muslim and Christian factions, who used to slit each others’ throats, stood shoulder to shoulder in prayer for their former prime minister and against Syria.

In an interview Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader and most prominent face of the opposition, was quick to blame Syria for the killing — but warned it would backfire.

“The fact that hundreds of thousands of people of all faiths and walks of life marched and stood together to say their last farewell to Hariri only proves that the Lebanese people are united,” he said.

Jumblatt — who announced only a few weeks ago that the Syrian Ba’ath party had been reponsible for the killing of his father Kamal, the former Druze leader, in 1977 — shrugged his shoulders when asked if he thought that he would be the next victim.

“I am just following the path of my father and I am proud of that,” he said.

The strength of Jumblatt’s rhetoric has surprised many in Syria. Speaking openly in a cafe in Damascus yesterday, a group of Syrians questioned why he had turned so openly against a country in which he had spent a lot of time and with which he had long enjoyed close links.

Although life continued as normal on the city’s bustling streets, there was growing apprehension about American intentions. Some people also expressed concern about possible threats to Syria’s own security from Lebanon if it were to pull out its troops.

“People are very worried,” said the manager of an internet chat forum. “They hear America using the same rhetoric as they employed against Iraq before the invasion and they wonder if we are next.”

Nour said Syria was playing an increasingly important role in the war against terror, passing on vital intelligence not just to America and Canada but also to other Arab countries, yet was receiving little credit in return.

“Unlike with other states, where a carrot and stick approach is used, with us it is just sticks,” Nour said. “The fact that Syria borders Israel means that it will never be seen to be doing enough where Washington is concerned.”

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