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Lebanon vows to fight terror
26/01/2008 16:09 - (SA)
Beirut - Lebanon's senior security chief on Saturday vowed to fight what he called "the empire of terror", ahead of the funeral of a key intelligence officer killed by a car bomb with four other people.
The murder on Friday of Major Wissam Eid triggered local and international condemnation and was widely seen as another attempt to derail stability in a country already paralysed by political crisis.
"We are determined to confront the empire of death and terror," Internal Security Forces (ISF) chief Brigadier General Ashraf Rifi said in a ceremony at his headquarters to pay tribute to Eid.
Eid was killed along with his bodygyard Osama Mereb and three civilians in east Beirut.
Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri indirectly accused Syria of involvement in the attack. Damascus said the bombing had been carried out by "the enemies of Lebanon."
Rifi hailed Eid and Mereb as "heroes and martyrs," and vowed that his troops would not be deterred in their commitment to fight terror.
'Two heroes'
"We pledge to you two heroes that the Internal Security Forces will continue to confront those who have decided to terrorise the nation," he added.
Pall bearers in ISF military fatigues carried the coffins draped in Lebanese flags and placed them in ambulances on their way to the northern port city of Tripoli for a formal funeral ceremony.
The pair are to be buried later on Saturday in their respective north Lebanon hometowns, where residents on Friday set tyres ablaze and blocked roads to express their anger.
Some colleagues and relatives of the slain men were unable to hold back their tears. A band played a funeral march while Rifi and police and military brass watched somberly as the ambulances left.
Rifi hailed Eid for "contributing to developing the intelligence services".
Eid, 31, was Lebanon's top anti-terrorism investigator, and involved in probes related to a spate of killings in recent years of mainly anti-Syrian politicians and figures.
Bomb
Among those killed was Saad Hariri's father, billionaire former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who died in a massive car bomb in February 2005 that was widely blamed on Syria. Damascus denied any involvement.
An official from Lebanon's Western-backed political majority on Friday said Eid was returning from a meeting of the UN commission investigating Hariri's murder, when the bomb exploded.
But security officials later denied this and said Eid was heading to his office from home when the bomb went off.
On Saturday several Beirut newspapers linked Eid's murder to the Hariri probe.
"Two targets were hit: security and truth," the French-language L'Orient-Le Jour said, echoing other dailies. "It was a bloody message to those who wanted to know the truth about Rafiq Hariri."
The murder comes as Lebanon is enmeshed in one of its worst political crises since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Lebanon has been without a president since late November, with a tug-of-war between the majority and the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, on electing a new head of state.
'Fight terrorism'
Thirteen sessions in parliament to elect a president have been postponed since September despite international pressure and mediation.
Ad-Diyar newspaper, which is close to the opposition, said in an editorial on Saturday that the "political divisions" gripping Lebanon have undermined its efforts "to fight terrorism."
Eid, a captain, and Mereb, a first sergeant, were posthumously promoted to major and warrant officer respectively and awarded several distinctions, including the "medal of war."
Three civilians were also killed in the attack in the mainly Christian neighbourhood of Hazmiyeh in eastern Beirut, according to an updated police toll. Forty-two people were wounded, with eight still in hospital on Saturday.
- AFP
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