Seems like Bashar Al Assad wont stop his "serial terror" plan. He did it in a good time so that people can fear and not participate in Hariri's 2nd memorial death.
Lebanon bus bombings kill three
AFP - 2007 / 2 / 13
Bomb blasts tore through two buses in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing three people as the deeply divided nation prepared to commemorate the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri two years ago. The bombings in a mainly Christian mountain area northeast of Beirut were the latest in a spate of attacks blamed on Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria and came at a time of high political tensions. "This is another terrorist attempt to exert control over Lebanon with blood and repression," charged Minister of Social Affairs Nayla Moawad, a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
The state news agency said the first explosion occurred at 9:30 am (0730 GMT) in a minibus full of passengers and just seven minutes later another minibus was blown up. "Three people were killed and 18 others were wounded," said a police spokesman, identifying the dead as an Egyptian national as well as a Lebanese man and a woman. Television pictures showed security men with sniffer dogs probing the mangled wreckage of the buses in Ain Alak, a village lying in the shadow of the snow-capped Mount Lebanon, a Christian area in multi-confessional Lebanon. "Initial reports show that explosive charges were placed inside the buses," the police spokesman added.
The bombings are likely to exacerbate tensions in a country where the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement is spearheading a campaign to bring down the Western-backed government. They come on the eve of ceremonies to remember the killing of billionaire five-time premier Hariri, the subject of a UN probe that has pointed the finger of blame at Syria. His assassination in a massive Beirut truck bombing on February 14, 2005, was followed by a series of killings and attacks against other prominent anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
Parliamentary leader MP Saad Hariri described Tuesday's bombings as a "cowardly terrorist attack" designed to disrupt ceremonies for his slain father. Ain Alak is situated near Bikfaya, the hometown of former Christian president Amin Gemayel whose minister son Pierre was gunned down in a Beirut suburb on November 21, the most recent attack against a Damascus critic.
Syrian-backed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said the "massacre... is a clear attempt to foil all internal, regional and international efforts to achieve Lebanese national unity." "All the Lebanese feel that they are targets, and what happened was a harrowing crime that targeted civilians," added Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah.
Syria, which has vehemently denied being involved in any of the attacks against its critics, has so far not responded to Tuesday's events. Saad Hariri said the attacks underscored the need for an international tribunal to try those suspected in the Hariri killing, a move the pro-Syrian opposition has been blocking. Lebanon's feuding factions are headed for a standoff Wednesday after government supporters announced plans to mark
Hariri's death in the same Beirut square where the opposition has been staging its sit-in for more than two months. Six ministers from Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies quit the government in November largely over the cabinet's endorsement of a UN tribunal for Hariri's murder. Seven people were killed last month in fighting between pro- and anti-government demonstrators after the opposition called for a one-day protest strike.
The anniversary of Hariri's assassination also falls six months to the day since a UN-brokered ceasefire brought an end to a blistering war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hariri's killing triggered massive international pressure on Syria, which in April 2005 pulled its troops out of Lebanon after a 29-year military presence. French President Jacques Chirac expressed his horror at the bombings. "By striking on the eve of the commemoration of the attack that claimed the lives of Rafiq Hariri and his companions, these murderers are trying to plunge the whole of Lebanon back into violence."
Lebanon bus bombings kill three
AFP - 2007 / 2 / 13
Bomb blasts tore through two buses in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing three people as the deeply divided nation prepared to commemorate the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri two years ago. The bombings in a mainly Christian mountain area northeast of Beirut were the latest in a spate of attacks blamed on Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria and came at a time of high political tensions. "This is another terrorist attempt to exert control over Lebanon with blood and repression," charged Minister of Social Affairs Nayla Moawad, a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
The state news agency said the first explosion occurred at 9:30 am (0730 GMT) in a minibus full of passengers and just seven minutes later another minibus was blown up. "Three people were killed and 18 others were wounded," said a police spokesman, identifying the dead as an Egyptian national as well as a Lebanese man and a woman. Television pictures showed security men with sniffer dogs probing the mangled wreckage of the buses in Ain Alak, a village lying in the shadow of the snow-capped Mount Lebanon, a Christian area in multi-confessional Lebanon. "Initial reports show that explosive charges were placed inside the buses," the police spokesman added.
The bombings are likely to exacerbate tensions in a country where the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement is spearheading a campaign to bring down the Western-backed government. They come on the eve of ceremonies to remember the killing of billionaire five-time premier Hariri, the subject of a UN probe that has pointed the finger of blame at Syria. His assassination in a massive Beirut truck bombing on February 14, 2005, was followed by a series of killings and attacks against other prominent anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
Parliamentary leader MP Saad Hariri described Tuesday's bombings as a "cowardly terrorist attack" designed to disrupt ceremonies for his slain father. Ain Alak is situated near Bikfaya, the hometown of former Christian president Amin Gemayel whose minister son Pierre was gunned down in a Beirut suburb on November 21, the most recent attack against a Damascus critic.
Syrian-backed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said the "massacre... is a clear attempt to foil all internal, regional and international efforts to achieve Lebanese national unity." "All the Lebanese feel that they are targets, and what happened was a harrowing crime that targeted civilians," added Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah.
Syria, which has vehemently denied being involved in any of the attacks against its critics, has so far not responded to Tuesday's events. Saad Hariri said the attacks underscored the need for an international tribunal to try those suspected in the Hariri killing, a move the pro-Syrian opposition has been blocking. Lebanon's feuding factions are headed for a standoff Wednesday after government supporters announced plans to mark
Hariri's death in the same Beirut square where the opposition has been staging its sit-in for more than two months. Six ministers from Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies quit the government in November largely over the cabinet's endorsement of a UN tribunal for Hariri's murder. Seven people were killed last month in fighting between pro- and anti-government demonstrators after the opposition called for a one-day protest strike.
The anniversary of Hariri's assassination also falls six months to the day since a UN-brokered ceasefire brought an end to a blistering war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hariri's killing triggered massive international pressure on Syria, which in April 2005 pulled its troops out of Lebanon after a 29-year military presence. French President Jacques Chirac expressed his horror at the bombings. "By striking on the eve of the commemoration of the attack that claimed the lives of Rafiq Hariri and his companions, these murderers are trying to plunge the whole of Lebanon back into violence."
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