SYRIA - July 20 - Mourning Period Ends.

Syria's 40-day mourning period for Pres. Hafez Al Assad ends with tributes in his hometown of Qardaha from Arab officials and some who served under him during his 3 decades in power. The only relative to speak at the gathering of more than 1,000 people is Assad's older brother Jamil, who briefly thanks Syrians for their condolences. In a ceremony closed to many journalists but carried live on Syrian TV, Vice Pres. Khaddam says he knew the late Assad as a president, a leader and a political thinker. Khaddam describes him as a man who "kept in his steadfastness until his departure". Referring to Hafez Al Assad's insistence that Israel return to Syria the entire Golan Heights, Khaddam says: "They could not bring him down to cede or relinquish or compromise on any right related to home territory". (Bashar Al Assad, who was sworn in as president on July 17, has said he will follow his father's course in negotiations with Israel.) Khaddam says Arab unity was the elder Assad's preoccupation to his final days. Khaddam says: "He was confident that the Arabs' future is in their unity, that their security, stability and renaissance rests in their solidarity". Defence Minister Tlass speaks of the years in which he accompanied the elder Assad, saying: "I fought with him, shared with him every rebellion, insurgence, coup or revolution". (Hafez Al Assad gave his position as defence minister to Tlass when Assad took power in a 1970 coup.) Among others to address the gathering are Lebanese Parliament Speaker Berri and Hizbollah leader Shaikh Nasrallah. (Syria is influential over the Hizbollah guerrilla group that fought Israel during its lengthy occupation of southern Lebanon. Hafez Al Assad died on June 10 at age 69 and was buried in Qardaha next to his eldest son Basil, who died in a car accident in 1994.) No events marking the end of the mourning period are held in Damascus.