Lebanon 'on brink of abyss'

2005-02-15 13:57

Beirut - The death toll from the massive Beirut bomb blast that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri has risen to 15.

The toll includes Hariri and seven of his bodyguards, the source said.

Meanwhile the Lebanese press on Tuesday voiced anguish for Lebanon's future after the assassination of Hariri, with one newspaper warning that the country was on the brink of an abyss.

Hariri was "assassinated in a way that brings the ghosts of the not-so distant past howling into present-day reality", the English-language Daily Star said in a front-page editorial referring to the 1975-1990 civil war.

"The pressing concern of the moment is how to prevent Lebanon from tottering over the brink of an abyss," the newspaper said.

The five-time premier heralded by many as the father of Lebanon's post civil war reconstruction was killed at a time of high tension over Syrian political and military dominance next to its tiny neighbour.

Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition accused the Syrian and Lebanese regimes of responsibility for his death, calling for a Syrian troop withdrawal and the resignation of the Damascus-backed government of Prime Minister Omar Karameh.

The Daily Star said a transitional government should be set up to help defuse instability in the run-up to legislative elections due to take place in May.

The Arabic-language As-Safir newspaper said Hariri's killing in a Beirut bomb blast along with nine other people had "decapitated Lebanon" while the French-language L'Orient Le-Jour said it "killed hope".

"The Lebanese were counting on Lebanon to get back on their feet," it said.

It also carried a front-page interview with key opposition leader Walid Jumblatt urging the Lebanese people "to face up to the regime of assassins".

- AFP