Car bomb kills anti-Syrian MP Tueni in Beirut

[Olive]

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion killed staunch anti-Syrian member of parliament and journalist Gebran Tueni in Beirut on Monday, police said.

Three other people also died and 10 were wounded in the explosion that blew up Teuni's armoured SUV car as it was driving in the Mekalis area of mainly Christian east Beirut.

At least three people inside the car were killed, their bodies charred beyond recognition, witnesses said.

Tueni, who is also a prominent journalist, was a firebrand critic of Syria who was elected to parliament in this year's election.

Several cars were set ablaze and nearby shops and buildings suffered damage. Police and soldiers cordoned off the area as rescue workers ferried casualties to hospitals.

Lebanon has been rocked by a series of bombings and assassinations since the February 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-12T083002Z_01_FOR227469_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEBANON-BLAST.xml&archived=False

[Behind the Aegis]

1. hmmm...

I wonder who will get the blame?

[ECH1969]

2. This is about the dozenth anti Syrian politican

killed in Lebanon this year and there has been a number of anti Syrian journalists killed as well.

Could this be Mossad trying real hard to create a reason to attack?

[Behind the Aegis]

3. And there it is!

Only took TWO posts!

[shadowknows69]

4. if it walks like the mossad and quacks like the mossad....

n/t

[ECH1969]

5. There is no reason Syria would kill anti Syrian politicians

its too obvious.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. OIC...

...but not obvious for the Mossad to do it?

:eyes:

[ECH1969]

8. There has been over a dozen

anti-Syrian journalists and politicians killed this year. Syria would have more to lose looking like a bad guy by killing them.

I just don't think the Syrian government would have it in them to do something like this.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. OIC...

So, because Syria might look like the "bad guy," they can't possibly be the real culprit. :eyes: There is just no way "they" (the Syrians) could be as sneaky as the Israelis? PUH-LEAZH!

As for not "it in them"....they "are the heart of the Arab nations" (according to them), but in actuality, support terrorism and still house terrorist groups.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Clever.

If it walks like Syria, and quacks like Syria...it must be....

...the Mossad! :eyes:

[shadowknows69]

9. quack,

n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

11. indeed...

...it must be Syria!


But, let's fore go all investigations and just assume that it is Syria! That would be the way to proceed!

[ECH1969]

12. But the UN investigations of Syria have been bias

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Perhaps...

But...instead of continuing investigations, let's just make the decision that it is Israel responsible. It is so much easier than continuing any silly investigation that might show another nation was involved. We all know that Israel killed him. :eyes:

I support a continuing investigation, no sanctions until a result is found. Yet, it seems here, at this site, the guilty party has already been declared, because it must be the culprit!

[ECH1969]

14. You can't have continuing investigations if they are bias

[Behind the Aegis]

15. And if the bias is against Israel?

[ECH1969]

16. No the UN is bias against Syria of course

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Of course...

...it is the UN bias against Syria that is the motivating factor. :eyes:

Do you really know what the UN has said?!

[Up2Late]

35. I sounds to me like the same size and type of bomb as the original

I still blame the CIA, it's the only logical choice.

It must be asked, who benefits from this? Israel and Syria gain nothing but trouble for themselves if found to be behind this.

[brentspeak]

29. You forgot to add a tin-foil hat smiley to your post

[allemand]

18. "technique used in the attack was similar to that which killed Hariri"

Lebanon, 12 Dec. (AKI) - Lebanese police sources say some 200 kilograms of the explosive TNT concealed in a parked car were used in the blast on Monday that killed four people, including prominent anti-Syrian parliamentarian and journalist, Gebran Tueni. A police source speaking on condition of anonymity told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the technique used in the attack was similar to that which killed former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in February. Hariri and 20 others died after a bomb was detonated in a Beirut suburb as the former premier's motorcade passed by. (...)

The explosion comes on the day the latest findings by the team investigating the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February this year, are due to be presented to the UN Security Council in New York.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.238756120&par=0

If Syria is responsible for this latest killing, they must have gone completely mad. The timing couldn't have been worse.

[ECH1969]

19. I don't understand why Syria would even think to kill these people

All these anti Syrian journalists and political leaders that keep being killed right and left seems too obvious.

[Tempest]

27. Copycat killing

Who stands to gain the most from this assassination?

It's not Syria.

[Scurrilous]

20. Near miss against Hezbollah official (12/10):

Hezbollah official escapes unharmed from attack

<snip>

"A senior official with the militant group Hezbollah has survived an attack on his car in eastern Lebanon.

The explosion took place in the historic town of Baalbek, known for its Roman temples, but also for being a stronghold of Hezbollah.

The blast wrecked the car of a senior Hezbollah official, Mohammed Yazbek, who was unharmed in the incident.

He had reportedly got out of the car just seconds before the explosion."


link

[bemildred]

22. Completely unrelated, pay no attention to that. nt

[allemand]

21. Unknown group claims killing of anti-Syrian MP

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A previously unknown group claimed responsibility on Monday for the assassination of Lebanese lawmaker Gebran Tueni, a fierce critic of Syria.

In a statement faxed to Reuters bearing no insignia or letterhead, the group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant", said the same fate awaited other opponents of "Arabism" in Lebanon. (...)

"We have broken the pen of Gebran Tueni and shut his mouth forever and transformed an-Nahar into a very dark night," it said, referring to the newspaper Tueni published. An-Nahar means "The Day".

"We have succeeded today again in liquidating another of the mouthpieces that have...spread their poison and lies and not stopped despite the warnings we have sent him time and again." (sic!)

More:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2005-12-12T121222Z_01_FOR227469_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEBANON-BLAST.xml

Reportedly, Tueni was repeatedly threatened by Syrian intelligence. It would be highly intelligent to allude to these threats in a claim of responsibility which is supposed to be "anonymous".

[bemildred]

23. Boy, thats a bizarre message.

"Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant"
"opponents of 'Arabism'"

[allemand]

25. I think that pan-Arabism is still part of the dominant ideology in Syria.

So any reference to "Arabism" sounds like self-incrimination: "look, we, Syria, did it". Bizarre indeed.

[bemildred]

26. Yeah "Strugglers for the freedom and unity of the Levant" seems like a

clumsy translation of "pro-syrian terrorists" too. Unless you assume the Syrians want to implicate themselves, which is certainly not what they are trying to do in public. I don't believe it.

[daleo]

33. The language is out of Lawrence of Arabia

It doesn't seem very current. But, I am just speculating.

[Up2Late]

36. I found this on Levant

LEVANT is the annual of the Council for British Research in the Levant. It is a fully refereed journal, devoted primarily to the archaeology of Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, Cyprus, and Lebanon but the range of cognate disciplines and the geographical coverage is interpreted more widely.

<http://www.cbrl.org.uk/publications.shtm>

<http://www.cbrl.org.uk/>

Probably unrelated though.

[bemildred]

37. I am not expert, but it refers to that area.

In particular, in this context, it would seem to refer to the period before Lebanon and Syria were separated. Syria has not forgotten that, nor has everyone in Lebanon. That was why it suggested to me a reference to Syria or and attempt to implicate Syria in this bombing. But it's all rather speculative, it's just an odd and unconvincing message, as it stands, to me.

[plasticsundance]

24. Although I do not trust the Mossad

Or any intelligent agency for that matter, Sharon would not risk at this juncture in his political career a push to engage Syria over Lebanon. During the 80's, Sharon had already experienced what that sort of conflict would entail.

It is also possible that there are Syrian groups acting outside the sphere of the Syrian leaders, but I would also add that both Iran and Syria have been snubbing their noses at the US, Israel, and UN. Remember, Iran and Syria have said publicly that they would defend each other in the case either was attacked.

In other words, Iran and Syria appear to being saying: "whatta you gonna do about it?"

[Tempest]

28. Rogue group

It may not be Mossad, but any number of radical rogue groups operating in Israel.

[Behind the Aegis]

30. OR...

...it might actually be Syrians.

[Ouabache]

31. why not speculate it was some

cowboys at the CIA. It does have some.

[The Stranger]

32. You seem to have it backwards.

The Neonazicons are working overtime trying to push the U.S. to bomb Syria back to the Stone Age. Syria is doing everything it can to avoid being obliterated.

Syria has most certainly not "snubbed its noses at the U.S.", and as for Israel, Israel is still occupying and settling Syrian territory (as it has been for the past few decades).

[Behind the Aegis]

34. Analysis: An uncomplicated murder in the Lebanese capital

By Zvi Barel, Haaretz Correspondent

If there ever was a Lebanese political-intellectual persona who took upon himself the struggle for Lebanese independence from Syrian occupation, it was Gebran Tueni, the editor and manager of Al Nahar newspaper. Because of this he was murdered, apparently at the hands of Syrian intelligence sources or someone acting in their name.

Although murdering such a heavyweight of the political opposition precisely on the day on which the United Nations publishes its report into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri seems to be skewed logic on Syria's part, the reason is actually quite uncomplicated.

Syria - which is apparently also behind the murder of the journalist Samir Kasir (another Al-Nahar staffer), the attempted assassination of female journalist Mai Shidik, and the murder of the head of the Communist party, not to mention being likely responsible for the killing of Hariri - has been operating on two tracks since its pullout from Lebanon.

On the one hand, Damascus is attempting to build ties with the new Lebanese government headed by Fuad Siniora, but on the other, Syria continues to exact revenge on those it sees as responsible for its poor international image.

...http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/656942.html

[The Stranger]

38. How pedestrian.

In the one region of the world where political alliances are more complicated than any other, this imbecile is claiming precisely the opposite.

Yes, how so very pedestrian.

[Behind the Aegis]

40. How so very elitst..but I should expect nothing less.

[bemildred]

39. Yup, just business as usual, nothing to see here, move along, move along.

No need to question anything. Just take my word for it. Yuppers.

He explains the problem: "Although murdering such a heavyweight of the political opposition precisely on the day on which the United Nations publishes its report into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri seems to be skewed logic on Syria's part" and then proceeds to try to bullshit it away in a fact free argument that he apparently pulled right out of his ass. Essentially its all about revenge and the Syrians are just too juvenile to restrain themselves.

[Behind the Aegis]

41. I see...

...but if this was about Israel, I am sure your snappy response would be 'oh, so different!'

[bemildred]

43. No, I don't like stupid propaganda about Israel either. nt

[neverforget]

42. watch the fireworks

:popcorn: :popcorn: :hide: :popcorn: :popcorn: