Beirut bombing kills anti-Assad official, bringing Syrian war to Lebanon

“I was shocked by the huge magnitude of destruction, which indicates that the bomb was very large,” said Hatem Madi, Lebanon’s state prosecutor to LBCI television.

The street where the bomb exploded is the site of offices belonging to the March 14 parliamentary coalition which is supported by the West and is critical of the Syrian leadership. The headquarters of the Phalange Party, a Christian organization allied to the March 14 coalition, are also nearby. Before the news broke of Hassan's death, both were thought to be potential targets.

With its complex sectarian rivalries, Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to the possibility of violence in Syria fomenting domestic unrest. The government has attempted to remain aloof from the Syrian conflict, but the country is divided between supporters and opponents of the regime of Syria's President Assad.

The militant Shiite Hezbollah is reportedly providing military assistance and training to the Syrian Army and dispatching combatants across the border into Syria, while several hundred Lebanese Sunni volunteers have joined various units of the opposition's Free Syrian Army.

Many Lebanese fear a resurgence of the bombings and assassinations of political figures that blighted the country in the three years following the truck bomb assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister and Saad Hariri's father, in February 2005. Prior to his appointment as head of the ISF’s Information Branch, Hassan was in charge of Hariri’s security.

Hassan’s political affiliation with Hariri’s Future Movement earned him the enmity of the Syrian regime and its allies in Lebanon. The arrest in August of Samaha, a sharp veteran politician and once considered untouchable, was a bold step that may have breached a red line. After his arrest, Samaha confessed to the charges of plotting bomb attacks when shown covertly filmed video footage of him discussing the plot with others. The Lebanese judicial authorities also issued arrest warrants for a Syrian general and a colonel for their alleged roles in the plot, which have been ignored by the Syrian authorities. 

"Why Wissam al-Hassan?" asked Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, at the scene of the bomb blast. "Because he arrested Michel Samaha."

Previous

1 | 2