Anti-Syrian Editor Assassinated in Lebanon
The dangerous profession of journalism in Lebanon turned deadly Monday morning when Gebran Tueni, general manager of An Nahar, a leading Beirut newspaper, was killed by a car bomb. His colleagues at the paper's Web site, Naharnet, are reporting the story of his murder and the resulting outpouring of grief and condemnation.
Tueni, a fiery critic of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and a member of parliament, was killed instantly when a bomb blasted his armored car off the road in a hilly suburb east of Beirut.
The explosion came just hours before U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis delivered his latest report to the United Nations Security Council on possible Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri last February.
"The attack raises the political temperature in Lebanon at a highly sensitive moment," says the BBC.
Tueni's political allies immediately blamed the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad. Syrian officials denied the charge. Al Manar, the news site of Syria's allies in Hezbollah, condemned the crime and attributed it to unspecified "enemies of Lebanon."
Tueni, whose father built An Nahar into one of the Middle East's best newspapers, rarely hesitated to denounce Syrian influence in his country.
On December 3, he wrote that Syria was trying "derail" Mehlis's investigation of the Hariri assassination. Last week, in what would be his last editorial, he declared "Syrian hegemony in Lebanon is over."
"The Lebanese people know more than the Syrian regime what is best for them," Tueni wrote. "The latter is trying to reestablish its control over Lebanon whereas the Lebanese people aim at defending their independence, sovereignty and unity after the independence uprising and withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon."
"Lebanon loses a leader," Ya Libnan, an independent news site, said of Tueni's death.
"The most frightening thing about this is nobody knows why, nobody knows how, and nobody knows who's next," said Nadim Shehadi, who directs the Center for Lebanese Studies at Oxford University in Britain.
Zvi Barel, correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, had no doubts about who was responsible. He says Syria has been "operating on two tracks since its pullout from Lebanon" last May. On the one hand, Damascus is attempting to build ties with the new Lebanese government, he writes. "On the other hand, Syria continues to take revenge on those it sees as responsible for its poor international image."
Three anti-Syrian journalists and one anti-Syrian politician have been killed or wounded by car bombs in the past six month, according to an Associated Press time line.
By Jefferson Morley |
December 12, 2005; 1:50 PM ET
| Category:
Mideast
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Posted by: P. J. Casey | December 12, 2005 02:41 PM
Really, the only critical comment about the Syria government that you could find was from the Israeli press?
Syrian government clearly played a role in Hariri's death, but frankly so what? I bet the CIA has lost track of how many foreign Presidents/Prime Ministers/politicans/media people they have assassinated over the years. It isn't clear to me why the assassination of Hariri is the U.N.'s business. This is between Syria and Lebanon. It has never ended will for the countries including the U.S. that have meddled in their business. Oh well, the U.S. will never learn.
Posted by: Simone | December 12, 2005 04:31 PM
I think that the Security Council should react quickly. The Syrian government is threatening the world by this terrorist attack. The Lebanese government needs the help of the world especially France and the United States. The Lebanese government accepted an international commission. Hezbollah an Amal refused this commission because of their clause relations with the Syrian and the Iranian dictatorial government.
Posted by: Michel Freifer | December 12, 2005 04:57 PM
What amuses me is that the US is not even mentioned in this artical and yet it has still been critizised.
Posted by: Duck | December 12, 2005 05:50 PM
Funny how when JFK was killed no one asked the UN to come investigate and make a plainly false report. I think the UN is a totally biased and evil org doing US bidding. After the truth comes out that the sole witness the Mehlis used was totally debunked all of a sudden he is retiring and claiming to have more evidence of lies. This is surely an Israeli black flag op. The question simply is this - WHO BENEFITS from the chaos. Israel has invaded Lebanon twice and destroyed the country - Syria was begged to come in and restore order which it did. This stinks!!.
Posted by: Yara | December 12, 2005 06:16 PM
Simone,
The UN is involved because the Lebanese have ASKED for help. They're (Siniora's government) also asking for an international tribunal for not only Hariri's death, but also for George Hawi, Samir Qassir, May Chidiac's almost assassination, Marwan Hamade's almost assassination, Elias el Murr's attempt,and now for Gibran Tueni. Do you think the UN shoved its way into Beirut without an invitation?
If it is left between just Syria and Lebanon, Syria will go back to their wonderful methods from the past two decades of occupation: kidnapping, torturing, and murdering of innocent Lebanese who dare to criticize Syria on Lebanese soil. Perhaps the recent finding of mass graves in Anjar doesn't ring a bell? I think if you had lived under Syrian rule in Lebanon, you would not question outside involvement nor would you say, "so what".
A Lebanese perspective:
http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com
Posted by: AW | December 12, 2005 06:18 PM
People who have not suffered under Syrian occupation should not offer opinions about how "poor syria" is suffering. The Lebanese suffered more than anyone can comprehend. Torture, kidnapping, blackmail, theft all courtesy of the Syrian government.
They killed Rafik Al Hariri and have been responsible for every bomb since. No one should listen to their protestations of innocence. They are no more innocent than Bin Laden is.
Posted by: Amal Chaaban | December 12, 2005 07:43 PM
Great article. I'm staying out of there; let the media have it! I've canceled my reservations. (udsender@yahoo.com)
Posted by: Udi Sender | December 13, 2005 07:59 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I think this whole thing is a set-up. Certainly, the Syrian government is capable of anything, but they are not stupid. With the pressure brought on them by the U.S. and France, I don't think they would indulge in the wholesale killing of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians. Lebanon is a snake pit when it comes to political assassinations. It could almost be anyone, ranging from internal Lebanese factions, to al-Qaida, or Israel. I do not trust anyone in the Middle East, including the Bush Administration.
I was watching Lou Dobbs last week, when the Pentagon reporter said that the Pentagon reported that Syria and Iran was smuggling arms into Iraq. When Dobbs asked if they had any evidence, the reporter said no! It was just suspicion! Dobb's remarked that we pay our intelligence services enough to find evidence, and not just suspicions.
I second the motion. Give me facts and hard evidence. The whole thing smells!