Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed the center of downtown Beirut Monday, packing its central square and spilling out onto the surrounding roads, in the largest demonstration yet demanding the withdrawal of all Syrian forces from the country. Nearly every available space around the square was filled with people flying the Lebanese flag, in what was probably the largest demonstration ever seen in Lebanon. In the main mosque, still under construction, demonstrators crammed the tiny balconies high up on the four minarets. A few daredevils inched their way out along the huge construction crane looming over the square to drape a flag at the end. There have been rallies in the center of the city on every Monday since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed on Feb. 14, but organizers were determined to make this one especially large as an answer to the pro-Syrian march last Tuesday that also filled the downtown with mostly Shia demonstrators. The presence of such a huge number of Lebanese put added pressure on the government of Syria to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of troops. — NYT Syria gets Golan apples QUNAITRA: Syria received apples grown in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights for the first time in almost four decades on Monday, under a Red Cross-brokered deal. Damascus said the novel imports did not breach its long standing boycott of Israel. ‘‘These are Syrian apples grown by Syrian farmers on Syrian land,’’ said a Syrian official. Syria is in a state of war with Israel, which captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981. Red Cross trucks driven by Kenyans ferried the apples across the ceasefire line. —Reuters
