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Syrian chaos hits Lebanon; eight killed

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 10/20/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Investigators work at the scene of a Beirut car bomb attack that killed eight people including Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, head of the intelligence division of Lebanon's domestic security forces, on Friday. Protesters burned tires and set up roadblocks around Lebanon on Saturday in a sign of boiling anger over the devastating attack that threatened to bring Syria's civil war to Lebanon. (AP PHOTO/BILAL HUSSEIN)

BEIRUT -- A powerful car bomb tore through the heart of Beirut's Christian sector Friday, killing a top security official and seven others in a devastating attack that threatened to bring the war in Syria directly to Lebanon's doorstep. The blast sheared the balconies off apartment buildings, upended cars and sent dazed rescue workers carrying bloodied children into the streets.

Dozens of people were wounded in the blast, the worst the Lebanese capital has seen in more than four years. The state-run news agency said the target was Brig.-Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, head of the intelligence division of Lebanon's domestic security forces.

Al-Hassan, 47, headed an investigation over the summer that led to the arrest of former information minister Michel Samaha, one of Syria's most loyal allies in Lebanon.

"Whenever there is a problem in Syria, they want to bring it to us," said Karin Sabaha Gemayel, a secretary at a law firm a block from the bombing site, where the street was turned into a swath of rubble, twisted metal and charred vehicles.

"But you always hope it will not happen to us. Not again," she said.

Samaha is accused of plotting a campaign of bombings and assassinations in Lebanon at Syria's behest, to spread sectarian violence in Lebanon. Also indicted in the August sweep was one of the highest aides to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A senior Lebanese police official, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Samaha confessed to having personally transported explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon with the purpose of killing Lebanese.

Analysts said al-Hassan's killing was a clear signal that Lebanon cannot insulate itself from the Syrian conflict, which has been the most sustained and powerful challenge to the 40-year Assad family dynasty.

"The regime in Damascus will look at his death with much comfort," said Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst at the Eurasia Group in London. "One figure, hostile to Syria's interests, is out of the picture."

In Washington, the Obama administration condemned "in the strongest terms" what it called a terrorist attack.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement there was "no justification for using assassination as a political tool," adding that the U.S. would stand with the Lebanese government in bringing to justice those responsible "for this barbaric attack."

Friday's explosion ripped through a narrow street at mid-afternoon in Beirut's mainly Christian Achrafieh neighbourhood, an area packed with cafés and shops. Doors and windows were shattered for blocks, and several blackened cars appeared to have been catapulted through the air.

Bloodied residents fled their homes while others tried to help the seriously wounded.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 20, 2012 A29

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