His strategy seemed clear: Syria has enormous sway over Lebanon's government, providing Mr. Assad with negotiating advantage over the terms of a withdrawal, if one happens. And he made clear that he intends to retain influence over Lebanon, as Syria has for decades..

"A Syrian pullout from Lebanon does not mean that Syria will vanish from Lebanon," Mr. Assad said. "We hope to have stronger relations with Lebanon in the future."

Sounding by turns like a lawyer pressing his case and like a college professor giving a history lecture, Mr. Assad sought to defend Syria's presence and its strategy. He said, for example, that he remained committed to the Middle East peace process but noted that he was incapable of moving forward because Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel had refused to negotiate and had added new conditions.

He also answered Mr. Bush's charge that Syria was supporting the insurgency in Iraq by emphasizing that Iraq's unity was critical to his country and by insisting that Syria had done everything it could to stop the flow of foreign fighters through its borders.

"If you cannot seal your borders with Mexico," he quipped, directing his question to the Bush administration, "how can you demand the same of us?"

Mr. Assad lashed out against Lebanon's opposition movement, accusing it of "marketing its politics" during the recent demonstrations that called for Syria's withdrawal. "If TV cameras were to zoom out" from their vantage on Martyrs' Square in Beirut, he said, they would show that "no one else was there."

In Martyrs' Square on Saturday morning, the scene of numerous demonstrations in recent weeks, thousands of protesters came to watch a broadcast of Mr. Assad's speech on projection screens, at times booing and jeering. The protesters, many dressed in white, waved Lebanese flags and called for "freedom, sovereignty and independence." Some called out "Liar!" and "Bush sends his greetings!" during the broadcast of the speech.