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Lebanon was on a knife edge Wednesday, the 63rd anniversary of its independence, with the murder of yet another anti-Syrian figure adding to fears the country may be again torn apart by civil strife.
Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, scion of one of the country's most prominent Christian families, was gunned down along with his bodyguard in a Beirut suburb Tuesday afternoon, and angry voices quickly blamed Damascus.
The death of Gemayel, 34, added to already heightened tensions in a country where the Syrian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah is maneuvering to bring down the Western-leaning government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
The state news agency said Gemayel, a member of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, was killed “by gunshots on his convoy near the Mar Antonios church in the region of Jdaideh.”
Witnesses said Gemayel was apparently driving when his car was attacked.
Security sources said his car was rammed from the front, and that gunmen stepped out and shot him point-blank in the head.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died soon afterwards, a security source said.
Separately, gunmen also opened fire on the Beirut office of another anti-Syrian figure, state minister for parliamentary affairs Michel Pharaon.
People from across the spectrum called for calm among a populace divided between allies and opponents of Syria, the country's former powerbroker, while angry young men burned tyres in Beirut's Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh.
Dozens of family members and friends rushed to the hospital, many of them shouting in anger and others wailing.
Among them was Gemayel's father and former president, Amin, who called for restraint from his followers and for prayer.
“We do not want instinctive reactions or revenge. We are thinking about how to protect … Lebanon's freedom,” he told a tearful crowd at the hospital.
After news of the murder, panic spread across the capital. Cars horns honked amid giant traffic jams, as many people rushed to go home.
Tyres were burnt, cars damaged and posters of Christians allied with the pro-Syrian Shiite movement Hezbollah were torn apart in Beirut and in Gemayel's mountainous hometown of Bikfaya, east of the capital.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Siniora said “assassinations will not terrorise us. We will not let the criminal killers control our fate.”
“It is time for all Lebanese to unite.”
Hezbollah said the assassination was aimed at pushing Lebanon back to civil war, which ripped it apart between 1975 and 1990.
“There is no doubt at all that those who committed this crime want to push Lebanon into chaos … and civil war,” said the powerful group, which is also backed by Iran.
Prominent Christian leader Samir Geagea called for the immediate resignation of Damascus protege President Emile Lahoud, who himself denounced the killing as a “terrorist act.”
The head of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, Saad Hariri, broke off a press conference to accuse Syria of “trying to kill every free person” in Lebanon.
“The cycle (of killings) has resumed,” he said.
Hariri was referring to a series of assassinations and attacks in the past two years. These included the murder of his own father, former premier Rafiq Hariri, in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February 2005.
He later told CNN he believed the killing was linked to a looming UN Security Council decision to endorse an international court to try suspects in the murder of his father.
“We believe that the hands of Syria are all over the place,” he said.
“This is not a time to give up. Blood has been shed to free our country from the hands of the regime, from the regime that was involved in killing Rafiq Hariri, in killing a lot of people,” he said.
A UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in Hariri's murder, which sparked protests that forced Damascus to end nearly three decades of military domination in Lebanon.
The Security Council later Tuesday endorsed plans to set up the international court. The establishement of the court must also be approved by Lebanon, and is another issue that divides the government and the pro-Syrian forces led by Lahoud.
Syria has denied any responsibility in the Hariri killing.
It's official SANA news agency condemned Gemayel's murder as “a crime aimed at destabilising Lebanon and disturbing the civil peace in the country.”
In Washington, the Syrian embassy issued a statement expressing “outrage” at the killing.
It said “this charade of blaming Syria for every malicious event in Lebanon has been exposed a long time ago and is, simply, losing all credibility.”
“It's no coincidence that Pierre Gemayel was assassinated on the day the Security Council is discussing a Lebanese issue,” the statement said.
“It is obvious that whenever the world attention is focused on Lebanon, a terrible crime occurs in an attempt to accuse Syria.”
Gemayel was the first anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated since journalist Gibran Tueni was killed by a bomb on last December.
He was the nephew of Bashir Gemayel, who was murdered in 1982 at the height of Lebanon's 15-year civil war, only nine days before he was to be sworn in as president. Amin Gemayel was elected to replace him, and he served until 1988.
The murder drew a chorus of condemnation from leaders around the world.
Among them, US President George W. Bush called for an investigation and immediate UN action in response.
“Today we saw again the vicious face of those who hate freedom,” he said . “We strongly condemn the assassination today in Lebanon of Pierre Gemayel.”
Bush accused Iran and Syria of promoting “instability” in Lebanon, but did not tie them outright to the killing.
The anti-Syrian camp in Lebanon, known as the “March 14” group, called for a massive turnout at Gemayel's funeral, which is to be held on Thursday.
“The entire world will hear in the next few days the real voice of Lebanon, the voice of freedom, sovereignty and independence,” said former MP Fares Sahed, reading a statement .
The March 14 forces call on their “followers and friends … to participate massively in the popular burial of the heroic martyr Pierre Gemayel,” it said.
It also called for a total shutdown of businesses across Lebanon.
The group said “sadness has turned into anger. We will go after the criminals and all those who cover this crime … The blood of Pierre Gemayel will not go in vain.”
But the group called on its followers “to stay away from any sign of discord, which only serves the objectives of the evil criminals.”
A three-day period of national mourning was also officially announced in Lebanon, where independence day celebrations have been called off.
