mourning the death of former Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri who was killed along with nine other people when a powerful car bomb rocked his motorcade in Beirut Monday, February, 14.
The blast was described as an attempt by militants to end an often tense, but peaceful, Christian-Muslim coexistence in the troubled Middle East nation.
About 39 percent of Lebanon’s close to four million people are Christians. For years many of them lived in homes fortified by sand backs in Beirut during the civil war, a BosNewsLife reporter who visited the region said.
"Once free and equal, Lebanon’s Christians now struggle against tremendous odds in a country dominated by Syrian politics and an increasingly Islamized culture," commented Habib C. Malik on the Lebaneseforces.com Internet website.
Television footage showed Hariri’s body being carried away from the scene of the explosion while dozens of vehicles were set on fire by the explosion, and rubble was strewn across Beirut’s coastal boulevard.
Passersby could be seen pulling people on fire from their burning vehicles, and reports said at least 100 people were injured.
SET BACK
Commentators said the killing was certain to set back Lebanon’s march toward normalcy after the devastating 1975-90 civil war between Israeli backed Christian forces and Syrian supported Islamic groups, including Sunnis and Shias.
Lebanese Christians include Maronite Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Protestant believers.
Analysts expected that the attack might put on hold parliamentary elections planned for April and May. It was unclear who was behind the blast, although there were indications that Islamic militants carried out the attack. Former Prime Minister Hariri, who left office in October, had recently become a vocal opponent of Syria’s military presence in Lebanon.
OPPOSITION CALLS
He joined calls by the opposition for the 14,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon to leave the country before the general election in May.
However Syrian President Bashar al Assad quickly condemned the assassination, saying it was a "terrible criminal act." Reporters in Beirut said ordinary citizens congregated around the former prime minister’s residence, shouting, screaming and expressing their bereavement.
Starting out as an accountant, Hariri studied commerce, before moving to Saudi Arabia and making his fortune in construction and become a self-made billionaire. He reportedly built crucial ties with the Saudi monarchy along and received Saudi citizenship in 1987.
COMMERCIAL EMPIRE
He ran a commercial empire that spanned computers, banking, insurance, real estate and television and was the majority owner of Lebanon’s Future Television. His close relations with Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich leaders helped him in his efforts to rebuild Lebanon after the civil war, analysts say.
Hariri, a Sunni Arab, was a central figure in securing the Al-Taif peace agreement that ended the conflict, which pitted the country’s religious parties against one another. He was known to have both Christian and Muslim friends.
He first became prime minister in October 1992, but lost the post in 1998, after a quarrel with parliament over how to resolve the country’s ailing economy.
Hariri was asked to form a new government in October 2000 after he won landslide majority in the general elections. After four years in power he resigned last October, in a row over the extent of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon’s internal politics.
The United States condemned what it calls the "brutal" murder of Lebanon’s former prime minister. White House Press Scott McClellan said the attack was "terrible reminder" of the need for the Lebanese people to create a future free from violence, intimidation and Syrian occupation.
(With: BosNewsLife News Center, Reports from Beirut, Stefan J. Bos)
