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Syrians quietly mourn death of `great lion' Assad
DAMASCUS: The streets of Damascus were virtually deserted on the morning after President Hafez al-Assad's death as small groups of mourners gravitated to the presidential palace and the hospital where Assad's body lay.
Units from the Republican Guards, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, on Sunday blocked roads to the hilltop presidential palace, "Palace of the People", and al-Shami Hospital where Assad's body will remain until he is buried on Tuesday.
Scores of mourners, many in tears, others in shock, stood near the two complexes, chanting Islamic slogans and vowing support for Assad's son and heir apparent Bashar.
"Our beloved has gone. I came to bid him farewell," Thuraya Mohammad told Reuters outside the hospital with a choking voice while tears streamed down her cheeks.
She kissed a picture of Assad and called upon women around her to weep: "Why you are not crying? The great lion has gone."
Police intensified their presence around government buildings and at main intersections in the city as the death of the man who ruled the country for 30 years began to sink in.
Women dressed in black said they came in the early hours hoping to have a glimpse of Assad's body in case it was taken out of the hospital.
Traffic was light in the city of over three million as most residents stayed indoors, glued to television and radio sets to follow up the latest official information on funeral details, world reaction and readings from the Koran.
Many of the few cars that drove by bore black flags or pictures of Assad and Bashar.
40 days of mourning
Syria declared a 40-day mourning period and started procedures to secure Bashar's succession.
Schools, shops and all public and private institutions closed their doors. The ministry of education postponed state examinations which were scheduled to be held this month.
Syria's press, which represents official thinking, mourned Assad and backed his son Bashar to succeed him.
"Hafez al-Assad's triumphant march is left in safe hands led by Bashar al-Assad, the hope that will continue this march," wrote Mohamad Kheir al-Wadi, editor of Teshreen newspaper.
"Our people, shocked by the painful event, are determined to strengthen their national unity...It is time to support the path that the great leader carved," al-Wadi said.
Al-Baath newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath Party, ran a black-framed picture of Assad on its entire front page and headlined its last page: "Our torch forever".
"The terrible news of Assad's death fell like thunder...In these painful moments we have to think logically to preserve the achievements of our great leader," a Baath editorial said.
Al-Thawra daily printed two pictures of Assad on its front and back pages while it headlined the third page: "The nation mourns its leader".
Massive double funeral
Vast crowds of mourners are expected for Tuesday's funeral which starts with a state ceremony in the capital and ends with an emotional burial in Assad's hometown.
While the official ceremony at a palace on a hill overlooking Damascus will give a chance for world dignitaries to pay their last respects, the climax is likely to come as his body is brought back to the mountain village of Qardaha where he began his climb from poverty to ruler of Syria for 30 years.
The schedule released by officials a day after Assad's death said his body would be moved from the presidential palace at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Tuesday to the nearby Umayyad Square where it would be transferred to a gun carriage.
It will be carried to the People's Palace, a huge official complex atop a hill overlooking Damascus that Assad used for state functions but rarely stayed in. He preferred the more modest official residence in a diplomatic area of the capital.
The body of the president will lie in state for five hours to allow dignitaries to attend. French President Jacques Chirac and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright are among those scheduled to fly into Damascus.
The coffin will then be loaded back onto the gun carriage and proceed down the long Mezze Autostrade to the city's old airport, where it will be loaded aboard a plane for the flight to an airport outside the coastal city of Lattakia.
A mass reception is already planned at the airport and crowds are expected to line all the several km of the route to his hometown of Qardaha, a town that did not have even a paved road to the coast when Assad was born.
In Qardaha, the body will be brought for prayers to the Naisa Mosque, a dignified structure erected to the memory of his strong-willed mother Naisa who died a decade ago.
After the prayers, the body of Assad is to be taken for burial in the family cemetery, probably next to his eldest son Basel, who died in a car crash in 1994. (Reuters)
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