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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Desperate Enemies Continue to Assassinate Democracy in Lebanon

2007-09-20

Anti Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem was murdered on Wednesday, just days away from the parliamentary elections to appoint Lebanon's next president. 5 others were killed, and over 50 wounded. A powerful blast that ripped through Ghanem's car in the east Beirut Sin el-Fil suburb, in what appears to be a bloody scheme to strip the Anti Syrian March 14 coalition of its parliamentary majority just six days before a scheduled session to elect a new president. Antoine Ghanem was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former billionaire premier Rafiq Hariri. World powers condemned the attack as a blatant bid to destabilize Lebanon ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary session to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, saying it exacerbated a months-long political crisis. A 40-kilogram strong car bomb explosion shattered Ghanem's black Chevrolet Sedan as it drove in the plush suburb, killing him and eight other people, including his driver and an unidentified person who was sitting next to the slain MP on the back seat of the vehicle. Two of the deputy's bodyguards were among the dead, according to Ghanem's daughter, Mounia. Tongues of flame shot up from the wreckage of Ghanem's car and at least eight other vehicles as fire fighters combated the blaze and ambulances evacuated at least 47 wounded people to nearby hospitals. The powerful explosion, which echoed across the Lebanese capital, shattered glass windows in Sin el-Fil and the plush suburb of Horsh Tabet. People wailed and screamed at hospitals where some of the injured were transported and pleaded with staff for information about the fate of loved ones. "Tony is gone, Tony is gone. My tall blond son is gone," wailed a woman, as she pulled her hair and raised her hands to the sky outside the Lebanese Canadian Hospital. She said her son, Tony Daou, 23, was a bodyguard of Ghanem. The crime was committed three months after a similar car bomb explosion on June 14 which claimed the life of MP Walid Eido. Ghanem, 64, returned to Beirut from safe haven in Abu Dhabi two days ago. The crime was committed three months after a similar car bomb explosion on June 14 which claimed the life of MP Walid Eido. Ghanem, 64, returned to Beirut from safe haven in Abu Dhabi two days ago. Fellow Christian MP Antoine Andraos said Ghanem had called him "earlier in the afternoon to ask me where he could get a bullet-proof car." "He felt threatened, just like all the other members of the majority are threatened by the regime of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad," he said in tears. MP Saad Hariri blamed the assassination on the "cowardly regime" of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Druze leader Walid Jublatt also said Assad's regime is behind Ghanem's assassination, pledging that "we will not succumb to Bashar Assad's threat." A Friend of the victim, speaking on condition of anonymity, quoted Ghanem as telling him Tuesday evening: "I face the threat of assassination. They want to kill me to open the door for by-elections to choose a new MP from (Michel Aoun's) Free Patriotic Movement." Ghanem had represented the Baabda-Aley constituency in parliament since the year 2000. Ghanem's constituency houses Hizbullah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the party that is opposed to the March 14 alliance carries a sizeable influence. Hizbullah, also backed by Iran, is allied with Aoun's FPM in the attempt to topple Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government and prevent the election of a new president who is not controlled by the Damascus regime of President Bashar Assad. In addition to Ghanem and Eido, MP and Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, a prominent member of the Phalange Party and the March 14 alliance, was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Nov. 21. By-elections held on Aug. 5 in Gemayel's Metn constituency were won by FPM candidate Camille Khoury, thus stripping the March 14 alliance of a vote in the presidential elections to choose a successor to Syrian-Backed President Emile Lahoud. Pro Syrian Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had summoned Parliament to elect a head of state on Sept. 25. Lahoud's extended term expires on Nov. 24.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariri blames Assad for assassinating MP

2007-09-20

A powerful bomb killed a pro-government lawmaker and six others Wednesday in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut, threatening to derail Parliament's already deeply divided effort to elect Lebanon's next president in voting due to start in days. Antoine Ghanem, a 64-year-old member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party, was the eighth anti-Syrian figure and fourth lawmaker from the majority assassinated since 2005, reducing the ruling coalition's margin in Parliament. Members of the coalition held Syria responsible for Ghanem's death, which came only two days after he returned to Lebanon from the safety of abroad. Damascus denied the accusations of involvement, as it has done for each of the past seven assassinations. Security officials said 67 people were wounded in Wednesday's blast, half of which have left the hospital. The explosion occurred at rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil district, severely damaging nearby buildings, setting several cars on fire and leaving the street littered with blood and debris. Bystanders watched in shock as ambulances and civil defense workers searched for victims. Explosive experts were seen sifting through the engine of Ghanem's car, which was blown at least 50 meters (165 feet) by the force of the explosion. A security official said the bomb was likely detonated by remote control near Ghanem's car. "I have never seen a more cowardly regime than that of Bashar Assad's," said lawmaker Saad Hariri, blaming the Syrian president for Ghanem's death. Hariri heads the anti-Syrian majority in Parliament, a role he stepped into after his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was killed by car bomb in 2005. Cabinet member Ahmed Fatfat also blamed Syria for the attack, saying Damascus wanted to derail recent efforts by majority and opposition leaders to begin presidential elections on Sept. 25. "It is the only regime that does not want presidential elections in Lebanon to be held," Fatfat told The Associated Press. Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud also implied Ghanem's death was meant to undermine the upcoming elections, saying "it is no coincidence that whenever there are positive signs" that someone is killed. Syria was quick to condemn the attack, which it said aimed at sabotaging efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement. "This criminal act aims at undermining efforts paid by Syria and others to achieve Lebanese national accord," Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted an anonymous Syrian official as saying. The assassination of anti-Syrian figures began in 2005 with the death of Hariri, the former prime minister. Hariri's death sparked massive protests that helped bring an end to Syria's nearly 30-year domination of Lebanon. Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005, and a government led by anti-Syrian politicians was elected. Since then, the government of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has been locked in a power struggle with the opposition, led by Syria's ally Hizbullah. Government supporters have accused Syria of seeking to end Saniora's slim majority in parliament by killing off lawmakers in his coalition. After the assassination of Lebanese Parliament member Walid Eido in June, many majority legislators had to leave the country to spend the summer abroad for security reasons. Others who stayed in Lebanon took extra security. Ghanem was traveling Wednesday in a car with regular license plates, his blue plate hidden in the trunk, apparently as a security measure. Cabinet member Fatfat told the AP that Ghanem returned two days ago from abroad where he had been taking refuge for the past two months. Antoine Andraos, another colleague of Ghanem, said Ghanem called him this afternoon asking for a bulletproof car, a TV station linked to Hariri reported. According to security officials, a landmark hotel near the Parliament building in downtown Beirut has been rented for majority members to protect them during the 60-day presidential election process, which begins Tuesday. Wednesday's bombing heightens tensions before the presidential vote that already threatens to throw the country into deeper turmoil. Many fear divisions over the presidency could lead to the creation of two rival governments, a grim reminder of the last two years of the 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out. Lahoud is due to step down from the presidency by Nov. 23, and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post. Hizbullah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they don't approve of - and they can do so by boycotting the vote, preventing the necessary two-thirds quorum. If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, Saniora and his Cabinet would automatically take on executive powers. If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country. With Ghanem's death, Saniora supporters hold 68 of parliament's 128 seats, compared to the opposition's 59.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Thinly veiled insults greet Lahoud's statements about Hariri

2006-01-04

Condemnations and thinly veiled insults continued to be made against President Emile Lahoud on Tuesday, as politicians demanded that the president "stop misleading the people". Former President Amin Gemayel said "what is important now is to rid the country of the remaining security apparatus," adding that "President Lahoud is part of that system and is protecting it." Gemayel's comments were made to the Al-Jazeera TV station Tuesday, and mainly concerned an interview with former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam broadcast on Al-Arabiyya TV last Friday and Saturday. Gemayel said Khaddam's revelations represent "a new embarrassment for President Lahoud, who is putting a lot of constraints on the government and hindering it from making the necessary changes to the security apparatuses." He added that the presidency itself is now under a "vicious assault," recalling Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir asked Lahoud to "learn from the past." The Phalange Party leader said "it is up to the president to make a decision that will serve the country." He's suggesting Gay Paree is lovely this time of year. St. Helena's not. Gemayel blamed the political impasse in Lebanon on the campaign against Lahoud and the general belief Lahoud had a "direct or moral involvement (in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri) because of the suspects among those close to the presidency." MP Atef Majdalani called on Lahoud to "stop misleading the people, making false claims, stop pretending" and just "go away." In a statement, Majdalani said "Baabda's statement was a cover-up of the deep hatred that President Lahoud feels for the martyr Rafik Hariri." Lahoud had claimed his relations with Hariri were "positive and respectful." Majdalani asked whether Lahoud had forgotten the "vicious media campaign that his team led against Rafik Hariri during the elections of 2000 through the official media." The MP further asked the president if he had forgotten that "his officials in Baabda demanded the removal of the evidence at the crime scene (of Hariri's assassination) by removing Rafik Hariri's convoy and opening the road." In a separate statement, MP Mohammad Qabbani accused Lahoud of "violating the Constitution three times. The first was when his term was extended when he was army commander; the second was when he was elected president; and the third time was when his term for the presidency was extended." Qabbani called on "all forces that are still covering up for the president" to "side with the country and not with the remainder of the security system." MP Antoine Andraos said it was time Lahoud heeded the repeated public calls and "leave the presidency." Andraos further slammed Lahoud's "irresponsible and appalling practices." He added that the president had "lost his legitimacy" on the same day that Syria completed its withdrawal from Lebanon last April.

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