Lebanon braces for power struggle after killing
Source: Reuters
By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Lebanon braced on Wednesday for a bitter power struggle after the assassination of an anti-Syrian Christian cabinet minister which his allies blamed on Syria. Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was gunned down on Tuesday as he drove in a Christian suburb of Beirut, becoming the sixth anti-Syria politician to be killed in nearly two years. Hours later, the U.N. Security Council approved plans for a special international court to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The action by the 15-nation council, in the form of a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will enable the plans to be submitted to the Lebanese government for its formal approval. Hariri's son Saad and his allies quickly accused Damascus of killing Gemayel in an attempt to derail the tribunal. Many Lebanese blame Syria for killing Hariri. A U.N. investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security officials in Hariri's murder. Damascus denies any links. It also strongly condemned Gemayel's killing. The assassination is certain to heighten tensions in Lebanon amid a deep political crisis pitting the anti-Syrian majority against the pro-Damascus opposition led by Hezbollah, which is determined to topple what it sees as a pro-U.S. government. "We believe the hand of Syria is all over the place," Saad al-Hariri, whose father Rafik was killed in a suicide bombing, said shortly after Gemayel was shot dead. Anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt openly accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regarding the Gemayel shooting. "Only the tribunal will deter the killer in Damascus. Bashar is scared. That is why he opted for killing to avoid punishment," he said. "NO CREDIBILITY" Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal denied any Syrian link to the latest murder. "Those who accuse Syria in this narrow and defeated manner do not have a grain of truth or credibility... How can they make an accusation at the very first minute?" he said. Saad later called for a large turnout at Gemayel's funeral on Thursday. "The day we bid farewell to Pierre Gemayel, is the day to defend the international court and justice," he said. Large demonstrations after Hariri's killing forced Syria to end 29 years of military presence in Lebanon in April 2005. The assassination came after a devastating July-August conflict in south Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which accused the pro-U.S. government of backing its opponents in order to weaken it as a political and military force. U.S. President George W. Bush led world leaders in condemning Gemayel's murder and he urged an investigation to "identify those people and those forces behind the killing". Six pro-Syrian ministers resigned from Siniora's cabinet this month and with Gemayel's death, the deaths or resignations of two more ministers would bring down the government. Hezbollah and its allies had been preparing to take to the streets to topple Siniora's government, arguing it has lost its legitimacy since Shi'ite Muslims are no longer represented. A political source close to Hezbollah said Tuesday's murder would force it to revise its plans. A Hezbollah official said the timeline of the protests would now have to be pushed back. The anti-Syrian coalition told supporters to prepare to take to the streets peacefully. Any protests and counter-protests would raise the spectre of confrontations. "I have one wish, that tonight be a night of prayer to contemplate the meaning of this martyrdom and how to protect this country," former President Amin Gemayel told reporters outside the hospital where his son's body was taken. Pierre Gemayel, elected to parliament in 2000 and in 2005, was a member of the Phalange Party founded by his grandfather. His uncle Bashir Gemayel was killed in September 1982 after he was elected president during Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The Christian Phalange party controlled one of the largest militias fighting in the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.
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