Another Lebanese anti-Syrian killed

from The Australian: Another Lebanese anti-Syrian killed [June 22, 2005]: by Correspondents in Beirut, June 22, 2005

A LEBANESE politician who was a harsh critic of Damascus was assassinated in a car bombing last night, a day after an anti-Syrian coalition won Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

. . .CNN reported last night that Mr Hawi had campaigned during the elections for Elias Atallah, a co-founder of the Democratic Left Movement and critic of Syria. CNN said Mr Atallah was influenced by prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir, who was killed in Beirut on June 2 during the election period.

. . . He was a columnist for the Lebanese newspaper An Nahar, which is often critical of Syrian influence in Lebanon.

. . .Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was "stunned" after hearing of the explosion. He blamed "conspirators" against Lebanon. "With every achievement by the Lebanese state, we see that there are those who want to target security and send messages of this sort," he said.

. . .The Lebanese opposition, which has claimed a majority in the parliament, accused Syria and its allies in the Lebanese security forces of Kassir's murder. The Syrian and Lebanese governments denied any role.

Lebanon's parliamentary elections were won this week by an anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, son of former prime minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a truck bomb in Beirut in February, plunging Lebanon into political turmoil and forcing the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
The elections were the first since Damascus pulled its troops out in April, ending its 29-year domination.

The murder of the elder Hariri was widely blamed on Damascus.
Saad Hariri's alliance swept all 28 seats in Sunday's decisive final round of the four-stage elections, ushering in the first legislature not controlled by pro-Damascus factions since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

Reuters, AP, AFP