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Car Blast Kills Top General In Already Tense Lebanon

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By SAM F. GHATTAS, The Associated Press

Published: December 13, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful car bombing on Wednesday killed the likely next head of the army in the first such assassination targeting Lebanon's military, seen by many Lebanese as the only institution keeping the divided nation from breaking apart.

Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj and his driver were killed minutes after he left his home on the way to work. At 7:10 a.m., a parked car packed with 77 pounds of TNT exploded, triggered by remote control, as Hajj's sport utility vehicle passed by.

The bombing left a crater 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep on a busy street with school buses and morning commuters in Baabda, a mainly Christian suburb of Beirut, where the presidential palace is located and where army presence is heavy.

With no claim of responsibility, there was widespread speculation over the motive for the attack, which comes as feuding politicians are struggling to elect a president.

Some anti-Syrian politicians accused Damascus, saying it was trying to torpedo efforts to elect a president. Others said the attack could be a warning to the military to stay out of politics, or vengeance by Islamic militants for an army offensive that Hajj led against them last summer.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, speaking in Damascus, condemned "this criminal act and every measure that jeopardizes Lebanon's security and stability."

The United States praised Syria for its response - a sign of somewhat warmer ties between the two rivals after Syria attended last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md.

Since 2005, a string of bombings and attacks have killed eight prominent anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon. The plotters have never been identified, but anti-Syrian politicians who back Lebanon's government have accused Damascus of involvement, a claim that Syria has denied.

Lebanon's military has remained on good terms with the Syrians and has largely acted with impartiality in Lebanon's bitter political power struggle between allies and opponents of Damascus, winning it the respect of both camps.

The failure to elect a president since September has embroiled Lebanon in its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

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