For a country associated with sectarian strife, Lebanon is showing unprecedented displays of interfaith solidarity, spurred by outrage at the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and resentment at Syria's continuing hegemony.

With Syria blamed for Mr. Hariri's death in a massive bomb blast on Feb. 14, Lebanese Muslims and Christians have taken to the streets of Beirut in unparalleled numbers to call for an end to Damascus's long domination of its tiny Mediterranean neighbor.

"This is the beginning of something important," says Gebran Tueni, editor of Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper, speaking during a demonstration on Monday that brought tens of thousands of Lebanese to central Beirut. "It's the first time you have Christians, Muslims, and Druze asking for the same thing: a Syrian withdrawal and a democratic society in Lebanon."

For many Lebanese, however, the deadly bomb blast, in which Hariri and 15 others perished, and the resulting political turmoil, have stirred grim memories of the civil strife that beset the country from 1975 to 1990.

Some Lebanese instinctively fear that a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon could return the country to violence. Syria has sent tentative signals that it is willing to stage further redeployments of its estimated 14,000 troops in Lebanon in accordance with the 1989 Taif Accord, which helped end the Lebanese civil war.

But Damascus has denied comments aired Monday by Amr Musa, secretary-general of the Arab League, who said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had told him Syria would "soon" stage a troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

Analysts say that Lebanese fears of a return to civil conflict are unfounded.

"The idea that we are preparing to kill each other again is absurd," says Michael Young, a Lebanese political commentator. "The Syrians since the end of the war have prevented any coalition developing in Lebanon that could have turned against them."

Syria's policy of divide and rule, analysts say, has been eroded by a growing opposition movement and the emergence of cross-confessional alliances.

After the end of the civil war, the anti-Syrian opposition was led by the Maronite Christians. But in 2001, the Maronites held a formal reconciliation with the Druze, their traditional foe, ending more than 100 years of hostility and forging a key opposition coalition. Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze community, has emerged as the most ardent critic of Syria's presence here.

Although the Sunni Muslim community chafed under Syrian rule, it was too timid to defy Damascus openly and join the opposition, analysts say. But that changed with the murder of Hariri, the most influential Sunni in Lebanon.

A dormitory for Syrian workers was burned down last week in the northern Minnieh district and Syrian laborers have been attacked in the southern Sunni-dominated city of Sidon. Thousands of Syrians have fled Lebanon fearing further reprisals.

Even Tripoli in northern Lebanon, which has close ties to Syria, has witnessed a strong backlash to Hariri's assassination. Omar Karami, Lebanon's prime minister and scion of a noted Sunni family from Tripoli, is being ostracized by the city's Sunni community.

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