HIGHLIGHTS: Hizbollah Needs No Military Help From Syria & Palestinian Groups Give Political Representation to 400,000 Palestinians Living in Syria||Syria Stands Ready to Defend Itself Against Any Israeli Action||Israel Threatens to Launch Attacks Against Syrian Positions in Lebanon in Retaliation for Attacks on Israel by Hizbollah|| STORY: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shrugged off U.S. pressure to cut ties with Lebanon's Hizbollah and expel radical Palestinian groups Washington regards as "terrorists." (Read photo caption)

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 President 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 Resistance attacks on Israelis since the start of the 21-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

It also defends Hizbollah, which waged a war of attrition that helped end Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in May 2000, as legitimate national resistance.

In a reference to Israeli warnings in recent months that the Jewish state would respond to Hizbollah attacks on its troops in a disputed area by hitting Syrian targets, Assad told Al-Liwaa that Syria would defend itself against any Israeli action.

"If the Israeli government involved itself in waging aggression on Syrian territories, naturally Syria would defend itself," the newspaper quoted Assad as saying.

Israel holds Damascus responsible for attacks by Hizbollah on Israeli posts in the disputed Shebaa Farms on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and has threatened to respond by hitting Syrian targets.

Israel launched air raids twice last year on Syrian army positions in Lebanon in retaliation for attacks by Hizbollah.

PHOTO CAPTION

Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, discusses with his Egyptian counterpart Husni Mubarak the latest developments in the Arab region in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, June 19, 2002. In an interview with a Syrian Daily, Assad, Monday (Jul 1, 2002) shrugged off Washington's pressure to cut ties with Lebanon's Hizbollah and expel radical Palestinian groups taking refuge in Damascus. (AP Photo/SAN