SYRIA - June 13 - World Leaders Bid Farewell To President.

With world leaders watching, Syria gives its late Pres. Hafez Al Assad a grand funeral that starts with a massive procession through the streets of Damascus and culminates in an emotional farewell at his home village of Qardaha. Throngs of Syrians weep as Assad's casket is carried by military officers into the mausoleum where he is buried.

Assad's final resting place is next to his eldest son, Basil, who died in a 1994 car accident. Assad's other son and heir apparent, Bashar, accompanies his father's body on the flight from Damascus to the coastal city of Latakia, where it was later carried on a gun carriage to Qardaha.

The funeral procession started several hours earlier in Damascus when the casket was carried to Al Shaab Palace, or the "People's Palace", a huge complex which Assad used for state functions. The coffin stayed there for five hours as diplomats and leaders from around the world, including US Secretary of State Albright, French Pres. Chirac and Egyptian Pres. Mubarak, came to pay their last respects to the president. As the funeral procession made its way through the streets of Damascus, women wept. The mourners also praised Bashar, who was meeting for the 1st time some of the world leaders at the funeral.

However, any comfort Syrians drew from the possibility of a smooth transition was shaken, on June 12, when Rifaat Al Assad, younger brother of the deceased president, made his own claim to power. Rifaat Al Assad, a former vice-president who has been in exile in Europe since attempting to seize power in 1983, said he planned to contest his nephew's leadership and introduce democracy in this country. 'Al Hayat' reported the Syrians warned Rifaat that he would be arrested if he tried to enter the country. Rifaat in 1982 was commander of the special Syrian forces which crushed the militants of the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama. The foreign press at the time alleged that between 20,000 and 40,000 people were killed in that massacre. Rifaat has been particularly bitter about the way his elder brother distanced himself from that development. Many fellow Alawite officers have since sympathised with Rifaat because, as one of them was quoted on June 13, 2000, as saying "he (Rifaat) was doing all the dirty jobs on behalf of his elder brother".