Car bomb kills Christian lawmaker in Beirut

A car bomb in a Christian neighborhood just east of Beirut killed a Christian lawmaker and six others. It was the latest in a deadly string of bombings that have rocked Lebanon’s teetering political order as the country prepares to select a new president. Car bomb kills Christian lawmaker in Beirut The bombing appeared to have deep political implications, giving credence to longstanding fears of a plot to eliminate the governing March 14 movement’s razor-thin majority in Parliament. The bomb, apparently hidden inside a parked car in the Sin el Fil neighborhood, exploded just as the lawmaker, Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party, drove past. The explosion ripped through the busy street, crushing cars and damaging buildings nearby, in a scene now eerily familiar in this politically tense city. Mr. Ghanem, 64, and his bodyguard died instantly, security officials said, and five passers-by were also killed. At least 19 others were wounded, medical workers and security officials said. “It went dark, then a blinding light followed,” said Toufic Shabib, who owns a flower shop near the bombing site. “I ran outside. Everything was burning — cars, people. It was like a war zone.” The blast raised concerns that Lebanon’s political turmoil might be taking a turn for the worse as Parliament prepares to meet next week for the first time in almost a year. The legislators plan to take up one of the most significant tests in this severely divided country: to deliberate over the choice of a new president to replace Émile Lahoud, who must step down on Nov. 25. Lebanon has been locked in a 10-month political stalemate between the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Iran and Syria. The opposition, in part trading on Hezbollah’s popularity after its war with Israel a year ago, has been demanding a greater role in government. Lebanon has faced one security threat after another, with seven car bombings in the capital this summer while the army battled Al-Quaeda-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. In Washington, the White House condemned the attack and strongly suggested that Syria was behind it, though the press secretary, Dana M. Perino, stopped short of directly accusing Syria. “There has been a pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to intimidate those working courageously toward a sovereign and democratic Lebanon,” Ms. Perino said. “The victims of these cowardly attacks have consistently been those who publicly sought to end Syria’s interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.” It was not immediately clear how the assassination would affect the political process or the March 14 movement’s narrowing majority in Parliament. Some analysts said the assassination might be part of a plot to eliminate the governing coalition’s majority by assassination. Mr. Ghanem was the fourth anti-Syrian lawmaker and the eighth leader assassinated since a huge blast killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, setting off a cycle of political crises. A number of lawmakers, apparently nervous about the situation, have been outside of the country in recent weeks. Mr. Ghanem had been away and had returned only two days before. With Mr. Ghanem’s death, March 14 will control 67 out of the 128 seats in Parliament; to elect a president outright, it must have a majority of 65. “What is clear is that there is someone working on depriving the majority of its majority,” said Ziad Baroud, an independent Lebanese lawyer. It was unlikely that an election to replace Mr. Ghanem could be held before next week’s expected parliamentary session. “These assassinations are connected to the presidential election,” he said. Last November, Pierre Gemayel, a Parliament member with the March 14 movement, was assassinated by gunmen on a busy street; in June, Walid Eido, a Sunni Muslim member and an outspoken critic of Syria, died in a bombing. March 14 members blame Syria for the killings. In a significant blow last month, an opposition candidate, Kamil Khoury, defeated a former president, Amin Gemayel, the father of Pierre, in a pivotal election to fill his son’s vacant seat. Mr. Khoury is allied with a Christian rival of the governing coalition, Michel Aoun, a former general who has, in turn, made common cause with the opposition Shiite Muslim Hezbollah Party and led a single-minded quest to become president. In Damascus, a statement by a “media source,” quoted by the official news agency, SANA, condemned the assassination on Wednesday as an act that “targets the efforts and endeavors exerted by Syria and others to achieve the Lebanese national accord.” Mahdi Dakhalallah, Syria’s former information minister, said in a telephone interview, “This could be destabilizing for Lebanon, Syria and the whole region.” He added, “I hope this event will be more reason for Lebanese to go and vote to elect a new president for national unity.”

Car bomb kills Christian lawmaker in Beirut

The bombing appeared to have deep political implications, giving credence to longstanding fears of a plot to eliminate the governing March 14 movement’s razor-thin majority in Parliament.

The bomb, apparently hidden inside a parked car in the Sin el Fil neighborhood, exploded just as the lawmaker, Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party, drove past. The explosion ripped through the busy street, crushing cars and damaging buildings nearby, in a scene now eerily familiar in this politically tense city.

Mr. Ghanem, 64, and his bodyguard died instantly, security officials said, and five passers-by were also killed. At least 19 others were wounded, medical workers and security officials said.

“It went dark, then a blinding light followed,” said Toufic Shabib, who owns a flower shop near the bombing site. “I ran outside. Everything was burning — cars, people. It was like a war zone.”

The blast raised concerns that Lebanon’s political turmoil might be taking a turn for the worse as Parliament prepares to meet next week for the first time in almost a year. The legislators plan to take up one of the most significant tests in this severely divided country: to deliberate over the choice of a new president to replace Émile Lahoud, who must step down on Nov. 25.

Lebanon has been locked in a 10-month political stalemate between the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Iran and Syria. The opposition, in part trading on Hezbollah’s popularity after its war with Israel a year ago, has been demanding a greater role in government.

Lebanon has faced one security threat after another, with seven car bombings in the capital this summer while the army battled Al-Quaeda-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

In Washington, the White House condemned the attack and strongly suggested that Syria was behind it, though the press secretary, Dana M. Perino, stopped short of directly accusing Syria. “There has been a pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to intimidate those working courageously toward a sovereign and democratic Lebanon,” Ms. Perino said. “The victims of these cowardly attacks have consistently been those who publicly sought to end Syria’s interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.”

It was not immediately clear how the assassination would affect the political process or the March 14 movement’s narrowing majority in Parliament.

Some analysts said the assassination might be part of a plot to eliminate the governing coalition’s majority by assassination.

Mr. Ghanem was the fourth anti-Syrian lawmaker and the eighth leader assassinated since a huge blast killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, setting off a cycle of political crises. A number of lawmakers, apparently nervous about the situation, have been outside of the country in recent weeks. Mr. Ghanem had been away and had returned only two days before.

With Mr. Ghanem’s death, March 14 will control 67 out of the 128 seats in Parliament; to elect a president outright, it must have a majority of 65. “What is clear is that there is someone working on depriving the majority of its majority,” said Ziad Baroud, an independent Lebanese lawyer. It was unlikely that an election to replace Mr. Ghanem could be held before next week’s expected parliamentary session. “These assassinations are connected to the presidential election,” he said.

Last November, Pierre Gemayel, a Parliament member with the March 14 movement, was assassinated by gunmen on a busy street; in June, Walid Eido, a Sunni Muslim member and an outspoken critic of Syria, died in a bombing. March 14 members blame Syria for the killings.

In a significant blow last month, an opposition candidate, Kamil Khoury, defeated a former president, Amin Gemayel, the father of Pierre, in a pivotal election to fill his son’s vacant seat.

Mr. Khoury is allied with a Christian rival of the governing coalition, Michel Aoun, a former general who has, in turn, made common cause with the opposition Shiite Muslim Hezbollah Party and led a single-minded quest to become president.

In Damascus, a statement by a “media source,” quoted by the official news agency, SANA, condemned the assassination on Wednesday as an act that “targets the efforts and endeavors exerted by Syria and others to achieve the Lebanese national accord.”

Mahdi Dakhalallah, Syria’s former information minister, said in a telephone interview, “This could be destabilizing for Lebanon, Syria and the whole region.” He added, “I hope this event will be more reason for Lebanese to go and vote to elect a new president for national unity.”