DAMASCUS, July 1: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shrugged off US pressure to cut ties with Lebanon’s Hizbollah and expel radical Palestinian groups Washington regards as “terrorists”.

In an interview published in the Al-Liwaa daily on Monday, he said: “Syria supports the Lebanese national resistance, including Hizbollah...in resisting Israeli occupation and liberating land, politically and in the media because the brothers in the Lebanese resistance do not need military support from Syria.”

“As for the Palestinian groups...their work is limited to political and media activities, and their offices in Damascus provide political representation to the 400,000 Palestinians living in Syria and who look to attain their rights and return to their land,” he was quoted as saying.

The remarks were Assad’s first public comment on those groups since US President George W. Bush demanded in his Middle East policy speech last week that Syria cut backing for Hizbollah and expel militant Palestinian groups it hosts.

Damascus hosts 10 Palestinian groups, including the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out a series of suicide attacks on Israelis since the start of the 21-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.—Reuters