(The Daily Star)- Demonstrators in north Lebanon Friday called for the expulsion of the Syrian, Iranian and Russian ambassadors to the country over the developments in the Syrian city of Aleppo, while mosques in the south performed absentee funeral prayers for those who were killed in the war-ravaged city.
Activists in the northern city of Tripoli held up placards denouncing the recent developments in the Syrian city, in solidarity with its residents.
In a statement read on behalf of the protesters, Maha al-Moqaddam accused "the United State, Russia and countries that support them,” of conspiring against the Syrian revolution.
She also criticized the United Nations Security Council for failing to act, which she said was tantamount to "sponsoring the killing and displacement of the Syrian people."
She called on authorities to expel the ambassadors of Damascus, Russia and Iran from Beirut.
Demonstrators set fire to Russian, U.N. and Arab League flags.
The northern district of Minyeh held a similar protest after Friday prayers, calling on the international community and Arab countries to "stop the bloodshed in Aleppo and all of Syria."
Mosques in the southern city of Sidon answered calls by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian to perform absentee funeral prayers after Friday's prayers for those slaughtered in Aleppo.
The sermons focused on Aleppo and the need to end the suffering of the people in the area.
Meanwhile, residents of Iqlim al-Kharroub district, south of Beirut, held a meeting in solidarity with the Syrian city.
The event was organized by the Future Movement in collaboration with the Progressive Socialist Party and Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya.
"Our duty is to support Aleppo, even though the mass of criminality against Aleppo ... It's our duty to raise the voice," Future official Mohammad al-Kojk said.
"Aleppo is burning but it will never raise the white flag."
"The war machine killed and destroyed Aleppo," denouncing the "deceptive [international] community for remaining mum," Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya representative Ahmad Alaaeddine said.
PSP official Bilal Qassem lamented the fact that "an unarmed people is being exterminated before of the eyes of millions of the Arabs."
Aleppo had been divided between government and rebel areas during the nearly six-year civil war, but a lightning advance by the Syrian army and its allies that began in mid-November deprived the insurgents of most of their territory in a matter of weeks.
The Syrian government Friday suspended a planned evacuation of civilians and fighters from the city after pro-government fighters demanded that wounded people be evacuated from two cities in Idlib province, besieged by rebel fighters.
The suspension left thousands of people trapped and uncertain of their fate.
Russia, which helped to broker the evacuation deal with Turkey, said its operation was now "complete" with all women and children moved from the city.
But Ankara and a Syrian military source said the evacuation had been suspended but was not yet over.
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