Thousands rally across Mideast to protest IDF attacks on Gaza

by ryan | March 3, 2008 at 12:29 pm

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Tensions in Gaza continue to rise and segments of the international Arab community rallies in support. Protests in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon declared their support for Gaza's residents.

Tens of thousands of Syrians filled the central square of Damascus Monday to protest ongoing Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 100 Palestinians, while elsewhere in the region thousands others also demonstrated.

The Syrians chanted slogans against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and called on Arab leaders to take a tough stand on U.S. support for Israel as it continues its air and ground offensive against Palestinians in Gaza.

"With soul and blood we sacrifice ourselves for you Palestine," the crowd

shouted in central Damascus, waving Syrian and Palestinian flags and carrying pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad. They also carried pictures of Palestinian children killed by Israeli attacks.

In Lebanon, about 2,000 students, supporters of the militant Hezbollah group, demonstrated outside the UN building in downtown Beirut Monday to protest the Israeli attacks in Gaza.

In Egypt, about 2,000 students demonstrated in al-Azhar University in the

southern Egyptian town of Assiut led by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, praising the Hamas movement which control's the Gaza Strip and lashing out at the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.