ANOTHER ASSASSINATION IN LEBANON—
Vehicles burn at the site of a car bomb attack in Baabda. Lebanon’s Brigadier General Francois El-Hajj was among at least four people killed by a car bomb that targeted the military in a Christian suburb on the outskirts of Beirut.
(AFP)
Another anti-Syrian leader is assassinated in Lebanon.
Rafik Hariri -February 14, 2005
Samir Kassir -June 2, 2005
George Hawi -June 21, 2005
May Chidiac (attempted assassination) -September 25, 2005
Gebran Ghassan Tueni -December 12, 2005
Pierre Amin Gemayel -November 21, 2006
Walid Eido -June 13, 2007
Antoine Ghanem– September 19, 2007
Francois al-Hajj -December 12, 2007
No surprise… The Lebanese Inner Circle reported that given the intensity of the explosion and sophistication of the bomb, this assassination bears Syria’s fingerprints.
Video from the bomb blast in Baabda—
The Ouwet Front– a Lebanese Military Blog- has more video.
Another Christian leader was assassinated today in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Brigadier General and head of operations Francois al-Hajj was killed 77-pound car bomb in a Beirut suburb.
Reuters reported:
A car bomb killed a Lebanese general in a leafy Christian suburb overlooking Beirut on Wednesday, removing a leading contender to take over as army chief from General Michel Suleiman when he becomes president.
The attack heightened tension in Lebanon where rival leaders are embroiled in a tussle over the presidency that has fuelled the biggest political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, head of army operations, and several bodyguards were killed in the early morning blast that hit his car in Baabda, a military statement said.
Hajj was the ninth fatality in a string of assassinations that began with the 2005 killing of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri.
A senior judicial source said only Hajj and his bodyguard were killed when the 77-lb bomb went off in Baabda, an area that houses the presidential palace and several embassies. Security sources earlier put the death toll at five.
The explosives, packed into an olive-green BMW car, were detonated by remote control, security sources said.
Hajj, in his early 50s, had been seen as one of two main contenders for the post of army chief, traditionally a Maronite Christian.
Lebanon’s Brigadier General Francois El-Hajj, seen here in March 2007, was among at least four people killed in a car bomb that targeted the military in a Christian suburb on the outskirts of Beirut.
(AFP/Joseph Barrak)
Blacksmiths of Lebanon has an update and notes that the Baabda district is home to the country’s Presidential Palace, the current center-stage for the country’s ongoing crisis.
Beirut to the Beltway reported that it was just yesterday that the Syrian vice president boasted that “no one can win the battle against Syria in Lebanon.”
