Car bombs in Beirut again, journalist Gibran Tueni killed
Damascus is accused of the death of the Christian editor of an-Nahar, Beirut's leading Arabic-language newspaper, on the day the Mehlis report is presented to the UN Secuirty Council.
Beirut (AsiaNews) A car bomb (perhaps two) exploded at 9 am in Beirut today killing Gibran Tueni, 52, a Christian anti-Syrian lawmaker and managing editor of the Beirut daily an-Nahar. According to early reports, three other people were killed and at least 15 injured, two seriously.
The attack, which took place in the Christian-dominated suburb of Mekalis, follows the June murder of Samir Kassir, another an-Nahar journalist, and the September 25 attempted murder of TV journalist May Chidiac, who lost and arm and the left leg when a bomb placed under her car blew up.
Son of a former Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, Gibran Tueni was born in Beirut in 1957 in a Greek-Orthodox family. Twice married with four daughters, he was the managing editor of an-Nahar, Beirut's leading Arabic-language daily founded by his grand father Gibran in 1930. He was elected to Lebanon's National Assembly for the party of Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
As soon as the news of the attack became public knowledge, groups of demonstrators gathered in front of the an-Nahar's offices, near the National Assembly in downtown Beirut, to denounce the latest outrage against the country's free voices.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called a special meeting of the cabinet for this afternoon. Some speculate that the government might resign.
Both on the streets and among political leaders, there is a strong conviction that the attack must be linked to the report of inquiry into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, which Detlev Mehlis is scheduled to present today to the 15-member United Nations Security Council. The Council has 24 hours to examine the report before taking any possible sanctions against Syria.
The report is said to accuse Syrian secret services of being behind the attack that killed Rafik Hariri last February when Syria still occupied Lebanon.
The report's charges should reach Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since his brother-in-law General Asef Shawkat is directly implicated in the affair as head of Syrian secret services in Lebanon.
Bur for weeks now, Syria's state-controlled press has attacked the UN commission of inquiry. Syria's president has warned that sanctions against his country would destabilise the Middle East and the entire world. Every military or political error in the region would precipitate it into chaos, he said.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Mikati is convinced there is a link between Syria and the latest attack. But for his part, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt noted that the destabilisation of the region as Syrian president predicted has already begun. In his view, the Tueni murder is a new terrorist message like those of Rafik Hariri, Samir Kassir and George Hawi.
Lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan, a member of General Michel Aoun's parliamentary caucus, said this criminal act was part of a violent series that began on February 14 with the Hariri's murder. He condemned the latest killing on behalf of his group.
Officially, Syria has also condemned the attack rejecting any allegations that it was involved. In a statement carried by its official news agency SANA, it denounced the "bombing that took place in the Mekalis suburb of Beirut . . . whose timing is intended to direct accusations to Syria." The communiqué went to condemn all murderers and explosions stressing that their instigators are enemies of Lebanon.
As soon as he was informed of the event, Maronite Patriarch Card Nassrallah Sfeir cancelled all of today's engagements and called on everyone to fervently pray for peace in Lebanon.
Mgr Elias Awde, metropolitan of Beirut, who visited the site of the blast, expressed to AsiaNews his sorrow for the loss of Gibran Tueni, considered one of the young activists who contributed to the liberation of Lebanon from Syrian occupation.
Gisele Kassir, widow of slain journalist Samir Kassir, also expressed her sorrow to AsiaNews. Although she did not point any fingers at anyone, she did take part in a demonstration by the youth wing of the Lebanese Forces and Walid Jumblatt's Socialist Party.
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