Tens of thousands of Lebanese attended an anti-Israel Hizbollah parade in Beirut's southern suburb in a show of force by the guerrilla group facing US-led pressure to disarm in line with a 14-month-old UN resolution.
"We say clearly that we stand by Syria, leadership and people, in the face of its targeting by the Americans and Zionists and attempts to punish it politically for standing by Lebanon and its resistance," Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the rally.
A UN inquiry led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis named senior Syrian officials as suspects in the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
The report prompted the United States and France to put forward a draft resolution, set to be passed next week, at the Security Council demanding Syria cooperate fully with the probe and threatening economic sanctions.
"What we are witnessing today is the using of the Mehlis report to punish Syria for a crime that it has not been convicted of as a punishment for its political and strategic options," Nasrallah said.
The parade, an annual event to mark Jerusalem Day in support of Palestinians, was the first major gathering organised by the Shi'ite Muslim group since its backer and ally Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon in April.
It also came days after a UN envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said in a report the Lebanese government had not disarmed Hizbollah and Palestinian fighters in line with Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the disbanding of all militias. "We frankly feel that there is incitement... from more than one international report to sabotage the relations between the Lebanese themselves, the Lebanese and the Palestinians and Lebanon-Syria ties," Nasrallah said.
Some 6,000 Hizbollah fighters, in khaki, brown or black military fatigues but carrying no weapons, marched in formation in front of cheering crowds waving the group's yellow flags and chanting "Death to Israel, Death to America". "Oh, Jerusalem, we are coming," the fighters chanted.
"God willing, we want to liberate Jerusalem," Fatima Kenaan told Reuters. "Every mother, father and brother will fight against America and its plans."
Huge Lebanese and Palestinian flags hang from rooftops. A big flag picturing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem with the words "We are coming" inscribed was a prominent feature.
The UN says there is no need for Hizbollah to keep its weapons after Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2000.
The group says it is open for dialogue with various Lebanese groups over the fate of its weapons but says it would not disarm as long as Israel remained a threat to Lebanon.
Hizbollah, also backed by Iran, was behind the majority of guerrilla attacks against Israeli occupation forces that played a key part in Israel's decision to quit its northern neighbour.
The Lebanese government reiterated its position on Thursday that disarming the group was an internal issue requiring dialogue.
Nasrallah said through the probe into the Hariri killing, the United States was leading an incitement campaign to try to sow animosity between Lebanon and Syria.