Anti-Syrian MP killed in Lebanon car bombing

[Up2Late]

Source: AFP

Anti-Syrian MP killed in Lebanon car bombing

19/09/2007 17h17

BEIRUT (AFP) - An anti-Syrian lawmaker was killed in a car bombing in a Christian suburb of Beirut on Wednesday, plunging deeply divided Lebanon into further chaos just days ahead of a crucial presidential election.

The murder of Antoine Ghanem -- one of at least five people killed in the bombing -- was the latest in a string of attacks in recent years against prominent critics of Lebanon's neighbour and former power broker Syria.

The UN Security Council and the United States swiftly denounced the attack, which members of Lebanon's ruling parliamentary majority blamed on the regime in Damascus, saying it was aimed at scuttling the vote.

"He has died," Joseph Abu Khalil, a senior official from Ghanem's Phalange Party, told AFP after the attack in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood in the eastern surburbs of the Lebanese capital....

Read more: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070919171719.95kvto1p.html

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Again. :grr:

[bemildred]

1. Kick. nt

[bemildred]

2. Syria condemns car-bomb attack in Beirut which killed anti-Syrian MP

Syria condemned Wednesday's car bomb attack in Beirut which killed Lebanese lawmaker Antoine Ghanem, plus at least six other people. An anonymous Syrian official said that the attack was meant to sabotage efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement.

"This criminal act aims at undermining efforts made by Syria and others to achieve a Lebanese national accord," Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted the official.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3451434,00.html

[bemildred]

3. Recent assassinations of prominent anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon

Antoine Ghanem was the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in just over two years. A look at the attacks:

- Sept. 19, 2007: Ghanem, 64, an anti-Syrian lawmaker from the Christian Phalange Party, is killed in a blast in Beirut. Six other people also die.

- June 13, 2007: Walid Eido, 65, an anti-Syrian member of parliament, is killed along with his son, two bodyguards and six others in an explosion in Beirut.

- Nov. 21, 2006: Pierre Gemayel, 34, the industry minister and a prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician, is shot to death by gunmen in a Beirut suburb.

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565089367094593052

[pampango]

4. Let's just say that life insurance companies refuse to cover anti-Syrian

politicians in Lebanon. Hard to prove that Syria is behind their deaths, particularly when they obstruct international investigations into them, but these politicians do have an inordinate number of fatal "accidents."

[Up2Late]

5. And that doesn't even list the non-fatal incidences

Like this one:
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/25/news/briefs.php>

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

BEIRUT: A prominent journalist working for an anti-Syrian television station was seriously wounded Sunday when a bomb placed under her car exploded, Lebanese security officials said.

The officials said May Chidiac, who works for the private Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, was inside her car when the bomb exploded in the Christian port city of Jounieh, north of Beirut.

LBC, in a news flash, said Chidiac, a longtime news anchor, was in critical condition.(AP)

[stillcool]

6. That does it...

bomb Iran!

[ohio2007]

7. Thats one less anti Syrian vote in the parliamentary majority

how many more lost votes until they become the minority ?