LEBANON: An anti-Syrian politician was killed in Lebanon yesterday when a bomb ripped through his car, two days after parliamentary elections brought victory for an alliance opposed to Damascus's role in the country.
George Hawi (67), a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in Beirut, witnesses and security sources said.
"After the explosion, the car kept going and then I saw the driver screaming and he jumped out of the window. We rushed to the car and saw Hawi in the passenger seat with his guts out," the owner of a sandwich shop said.
The 400-gram (1-lb) charge was under the passenger seat of Mr Hawi's Mercedes and was detonated by remote control. His driver apparently escaped serious injury.
It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2nd when a similar explosion destroyed his car.
The US said after Mr Kassir's killing it had information about a Syrian hit-list targeting Lebanese leaders.
Damascus denied the claim and denounced Mr Hawi's killing.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice accused Syria of destabilising its tiny neighbour. "They need to knock it off," she told reporters as she flew to Brussels on a tour of the Middle East and Europe.
Syria bowed to global and domestic pressure to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April after the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Syria ended its 29-year military presence, but Lebanese anti-Syrian figures claimed Syrian spies remained.
UN investigator Detlev Mehlis questioned the head of Lebanon's presidential guard as part of an international inquiry into Mr Hariri's killing.
Mr Hawi's stepson blamed remnants of the pro-Syrian security agencies, though Lebanon's top security chiefs have resigned in recent months. "The security agencies continue to kill the democrats and are trying to assassinate democracy in Lebanon," Rafi Madoyan said.
Syrian-backed president Emile Lahoud, himself under pressure from to resign over the string of killings and explosions, denounced the murder.
Lebanon's elections were won by an anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, son of the slain prime minister.
Prime minister Najib Mikati, a friend of Syria's president, and his interim government stepped down yesterday. - (Reuters)