Yet ANOTHER anti-Syrian politician has been murdered in Lebanon — the second in a month…a month when the United States contended there is a Syrian “hit list” of Lebanese politicians Damascus allegedly wants to knock off.
Even if you look at the barebones details on this killing, you have to note: it’s interesting that the only leading politicos that are being killed are those who oppose Syria. Reuters reports:
An anti-Syrian politician was killed in Lebanon on Tuesday when a bomb ripped through his car, two days after parliamentary elections brought victory for an alliance opposed to Damascus’ role in the country.
George Hawi, a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in the Wata Musaitbi neighborhood of Beirut, witnesses and security sources.
“After the explosion, the car kept going and then I saw the driver screaming and he jumped out of the window. We rushed to the car and saw Hawi in the passenger seat with his guts out,” Rami Abu Dargham, who owns a sandwich shop nearby, told Reuters.
The 400-gram (one pound) charge was under the passenger seat of Hawi’s Mercedes and detonated by remote control, judicial sources said. His driver apparently escaped serious injury.
It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 when a similar explosion destroyed his car outside his home.
George Hawi, a former Communist Party chief who was a harsh critic of Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs, was killed in a bomb as he rode in his car Tuesday, police said, the second slaying of an anti-Syrian figure this month.
The explosion — which police said went off in the car as it was moving — came a day after Lebanon concluded parliamentary elections, in which the anti-Syrian opposition won a majority in parliament.
Hawi’s Mercedes was cracked and buckled from the explosion. His face was visible and recognizable as his bloodied body was taken out of the car on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance by firemen and rescuers.
Hawi, a Christian, frequently spoke out against Syrian intelligence and interference in Lebanese affairs.
“We are stunned,” Prime Minister Najib Mikati said after hearing of the explosion. He blamed “conspirators” against Lebanon, pointing out that every time Lebanon moves a step forward something comes to attempt to destabilize it.
According to the BBC, fingers in Lebanon are already pointing squarely at Syria and/or Syrian-sympathizing forces within the country.
Another senior opponent of Syria, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, said the people would have to pay a heavy price for taking the country into their own hands.
“The life of anybody who wants a democratic Lebanon is in danger,” he told BBC World TV.
Mr Jumblatt added that it was vital for the new parliament to form a government and take control of the intelligence services.
“If you don’t control the security apparatus, you have to expect anything,” he said….
Mr Hawi, a Christian, was a Syrian ally for years but recently joined the anti-Syrian opposition and criticised Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. He is the second prominent figure to die in a car bombing in Beirut in less than three weeks.
See our previous post here about the U.S. warning Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon’s political process, a warning that included comments about the alleged “hit list.”
So what happens next? Now that the anti-Syrian opposition has triumphed in the elections, they’ll be weilding more power which doesn’t necessary mean enough power to weed out from the country — and possibly its own security or intelligence services — pro-Syrian elements. But it’s going to be in a stronger position to demand concrete actions — which it’s likely to add a new layer of ongoing conflict to Lebanon’s political life.
And Syria? It’s actions are greatly limited by being under the international microscope…which does not mean it still won’t have influence on events within Lebanon.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.