Second attack destroys statue of Hafez Assad in Tyre

Tribute to 'eternal leader' will not be rebuilt

TYRE: The statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the southern village of Qana was attacked on Thursday for the second time in two weeks, as anti-Syrian sentiment gains force.

The monument was first attacked on February 27, when the metallic statue of Assad's head and torso in the middle of a water fountain was felled from a stand hailed "the eternal leader" and was left lying damaged on the ground. This time, the statue was completely destroyed by unknown people on Thursday night.

After Hariri's assassination on February 14, which was blamed on the pro-Syrian regime and Damascus by the Lebanese opposition, many Syrian workers have fled Lebanon. Attacks targeting Syrians have also been reported across the country.

Internal Security Forces and State Security personnel came to the scene to investigate the incident and prohibited the citizens from approaching the statue, covering it with a piece of cloth.

The president of the Committee for Immortalizing Martyr Hafez Assad, Hussein Dakhlallah, accused the Israelis of perpetrating the attack.

"Dirty Israeli hands attacked the statue and those hands will be cut off for committing this stupid act," he said.

Pro-Syrian officials including Baath party members checked the statue and called for its rebuilding. However, sources said that Tyre officials decided not to rebuild the statue again.

Amal and Hizbullah have a strong presence in Qana where Israel bombed a UN peacekeeping compound in 1996, killing men, women and children who took refuge there from Israeli bombardments.

Hafez Assad's statue, which bears both the Lebanese and Syrian flags, was erected in June 2002, two years after the death of Assad, who ruled Syria for 30 years.

In the city of Tyre, there is also a street named after the late president as well as a cultural center named after his late son Basil Assad.