A senior Syrian official said that the Lebanese people's options for a national unity government should be respected, the official Syria Times newspaper reported on Sunday.

Syrian deputy Prime Minister Faisal Mekdad made the comments Saturday in a lecture at the Damascus University on Syria's foreign policy. He said that "It is important to respect the Lebanese people's options to form a national unity government."

Mekdad also reasserted Syria's support for the Lebanese people and national forces to confront the Israeli aggression, the paper said.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian protestors, waving Lebanese national flags, have gathered in downtown Beirut since Friday afternoon to attend the Hezbollah-led rally calling for resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

However, the political rift deepened Sunday as the mass protest entered its third day, while the Western-backed government vowed to resist calls to resign.

Syria, a supporter of Hezbollah and a former power broker in Lebanon, was forced to withdraw its troops from its smaller neighbor, ending a 29-year military presence there, after former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005.

A UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials in the murder, but Damascus denied any role of involvement.

Source: Xinhua