the month, leaving behind a nation where Christians are concerned about a new wave of bombings directed against them. At least seven people were slightly injured Friday night when a bomb exploded in a shopping and residential center in the Christian resort area of Broummana between the pinewooded mountains overlooking the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Mediterranean coastline.
It was the fourth bombing against Christian targets in 12 days, killing a total of three people and injuring 24.
SEVERAL EXPLOSIONS
Before Friday’s explosion a bomb went off on March 19, wounding nine people and destroying shops in the commercial area of Beirut’s New Jdeideh suburb, a Christian opposition stronghold.
Four days later, another explosion devastated a shopping center near the port city of Jounieh in the Christian heartland north of Beirut, killing two people and injuring two.
On March 26, a blast went off in an industrial zone in the Christian Beirut suburb of Bouchrieh, injuring at least five people and setting factories ablaze.
PATRIARCH PUZZLED
"I don’t know who is behind that, but this demonstrates that there are some people who don’t want peace and tranquility for Lebanon," said the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Christians, Nasr Allah Sufai, an influential figure opposed to Syria’s grip on Lebanon. His denomination has been a target in the past, including in 1999 when at least one person was reportedly killed in a bomb explosion at a Maronite church in the eastern suburbs of Beirut.
"This [bombings in recent weeks] bring back such bad memories," added Lina Haddad, 34, sitting on her balcony one night overlooking the empty streets. "I’m afraid to leave home. I look at every parked car and wonder if it will explode," she told The Associated Press (AP) news agency. She also puts her children to bed in a windowless room.
"I’m afraid to leave home. I look at every parked car and wonder if it will explode," she told The Associated Press (AP) news agency. She also puts her children to bed in a windowless room.
THOUSANDS KILLED
Car bombings — 3,641 of them that killed 4,386 people — were a hallmark of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war but have been rare since. Many are too young to remember them. However the recent violence threatens Lebanon’s new image as a tourism boom and a steady return to its prewar glory as a commercial hub.
Since the explosion that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 19 others on a Beirut seafront street Feb. 14. The assassination shook Lebanon and touched off demonstrations against Syria and its 28-year troop presence in Lebanon. Counter-demonstrations in support of Syria followed, but Damascus nonetheless was forced to begin withdrawing its troops.
On Monday, April 4, United Nations special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen announced after talks in Damascus that the Syrian leadership promised the withdrawal of its troops and intelligence services would be completed by April 30.
PLEDGE IN LINE
The pledge falls in line with both UN Security Council Resolution 1559 demanding all foreign troops be pulled out of Lebanon and with the Taef accord which ended the country’s Devastating 1975-1990 civil war, the French News Agency (AFP) observed. Syria first deployed its army in Lebanon 29 years ago as a buffer force during the early stages of the conflict, turning into the key power-broker in its tiny neighbor.
Patriarch Sufai told reporters Sunday, April 3, that he hopes a "non-partisan" neutral cabinet could lead the country to peaceful elections, Reuters news agency reported.
"That is to say that the new government will not be a political one but an administrative one," the 84-year-old patriarch, who is also a Catholic cardinal, said. Caretaker PM Umar Karami has not said what kind of cabinet he will try to form. The opposition has reportedly accused Karami of trying to delay elections, due by the end of May when parliament’s term ends.
(With reports from Lebanon, Syria and BosNewsLife Research)
