THE MIDDLE EAST: The assassination yesterday of the former Christian warlord, Mr Elie Hobeika (45), brutally reminded the shocked Lebanese that their 1975-1990 civil war has left a legacy of unfinished business.
Mr Hobeika cut a bloody path to notoriety as one of the most ruthless of Lebanon's many civil war chieftains, and few were shocked to see him die on the sword by which he had lived. He was famed for his ferocity and shifting loyalties in the most violent chapter in Lebanon's history.
Mr Hobeika was born in the town of Qleiaat in Lebanon's Kisrawan mountains, and received his early education in Catholic schools.
He came of age as Lebanon's civil war erupted and quickly through the militia ranks of the Lebanese Forces, which was an off-shoot of the Phalangist Party.
He went on to lead the right-wing, pro-Israel militia which carried out several massacres, including the slaughter of 2,800 people in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in September 1982.
Israel denied responsibility for the killing. However, President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon linked the assassination to the current court case in Belgium against the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon.
Last July, Mr Hobeika claimed he had evidence which would "change the story told by the \ Kahan Commission", which found Mr Sharon only "indirectly responsible". This week Mr Hobeika said he was ready to testify before the Belgian court.
In 1980, at the age of 26, Mr Hobeika became chief of security and intelligence in the Lebanese Forces. By the time Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, he had forged close ties with Israel's external security agency, Mossad. But when Mr Hobeika became head of the the Lebanese Forces command council in 1985, he cut ties with Israel, aligned himself with Syria, and espoused national reconciliation.
Five years later, Mr Hobeika helped defeat the Lebanese army commander, Gen Michel Aoun, an ally of Israel, who was trying to force the Syrians to leave the country. For hardliners within the Lebanese Forces, this was seen as rank betrayal.
Mr Hobeika was elected to parliament and became electricity minister in the first post-civil war government. He was married and had one son.
Mr Hobeika's killing was the first major car bombing in Beirut since 1994, when 11 people were killed in an an explosion at a church. It was also the first assassination of a political figure since 1995.
During the civil war there were 3,641 car bombings which killed 4,286 people and wounded 6,784. Yesterday's bombing was an unsettling echo of explosions most Lebanese had hoped they would never hear again.
