BEIRUT (AFP) - Hezbollah turned over the remains of 114 Syrian and Arab fighters to Syria on Wednesday after receiving them as part of a prisoner swap with Israel last week.

The coffins were taken from Beirut to the Masnaa border crossing in the eastern part of the country by Hezbollah's Islamic Health Committee. Hundreds of people gathered to attend the handover ceremony.

Relatives of the deceased had waited on the Syrian side of the border from early morning.

Members of Syria's Republican Guard received the coffins before they were transported to the Umayyad Square at the entrance of Damascus.

"Syria always stood alongside the resistance, whether in Palestine, Lebanon or Iraq," Yasser Hourieh, a senior member of Syria's ruling Baath party, said in a speech marking the occasion.

"Syria has paid dearly for this position, but it will never change it. And the world has once again realised its strategic role in the region," he added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's recent visit to Paris helped break his country's isolation which began after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

Syria has been widely blamed for the killing but denies involvement.

The 114 bodies were among 190 handed over to Hezbollah in a prisoner exchange with Israel last week, which also saw the release of the last five Lebanese prisoners in Israeli custody.

In exchange, Hezbollah turned over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers they captured in a July 12, 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a devastating 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite militant group.

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