LEBANON / USA: Beirut car bomb kills anti-Syrian MP and seven others

Record ID: 359064

  • Title: LEBANON / USA: Beirut car bomb kills anti-Syrian MP and seven others
  • Date: 20th September 2007
  • Summary: WOUNDED WOMAN AND BABY WOUNDED MAN STANDING NEXT TO BED WHERE WOUNDED BABY LAY
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA7C6328LKWFQNBBVWMVULK0G4I
  • Story Text: A car bomb killed an anti-Syrian lawmaker and at least seven other people in Beirut on Wednesday (September 19), less than a week before Lebanon's parliament was due to elect a new president.
    Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange party died in a Christian district of the capital in an attack his allies blamed on Damascus. Syria condemned the killing.
    Ghanem was the seventh anti-Syrian figure to be killed in Lebanon since the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
    At least 30 other people were wounded by the bomb in the commercial and residential area of Sin el-Fil.
    Ghanem, 64, was a member of the anti-Syrian governing coalition which has been locked in a power struggle since November with factions backed by Damascus, including Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.
    Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat, a member of the governing anti-Syrian coalition, blamed Syria outright for the killing, saying it was an attempt to derail next week's poll.
    "The goal is very clear, there are sides that do not want Lebanon to rest, they want chaos to spread so they can recover their hegemony of the country," he said.
    Ghanem's death reduced the coalition to 68 seats in the 128-seat parliament -- only three more than the absolute majority of 65 seats it needs to win votes. The house had been expected to convene on Sept. 25 to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, which it must do by Nov. 23.
    The United States and the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the attack. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, said it seemed to fit a pattern of other such killings.
    "The victims of these cowardly attacks have consistently been those who publicly sought to end Syria's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs. It is no coincidence that this attack comes as Lebanon prepares to elect a new President. And the United States will continue to stand by those Lebanese who continue to courageously stand up for democracy and independence," she said.
    Prime Minister Fouad Siniora requested technical assistance to investigate "this horrific assassination" in a letter to U.N.
    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
    The U.N. Security Council moved unilaterally in May to approve the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute suspects in the killing of Hariri and others.
    Pierre Gemayel, the industry member and lawmaker who was assassinated in November last year, was a member of the same party as Ghanem, who had returned from a two-month stay abroad this week. He had moved abroad out of security fears.
    In June this year, anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido and nine other people were killed by a car bomb in Beirut.
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