Another wicked car bomb blast has ripped through the streets of Beirut, killing two innocent bystanders but this time missing its target, the outgoing Defense Minister Elias Murr. Those who understand the complex interlinking webs that make up Lebanese politics will be busy trying to work out who planted the device and figure out why Murr should have been attacked. This is the fifth bombing in as many months in or near the Lebanese capital. The detonation of the first on Feb. 14 not only killed former Premier Rafik Hariri but it also blew apart the long occupation by the Syrians. Since then explosions have murdered three people at Kaslik in March, and last month the widely-respected journalist Samir Kassir and former Communist party leader George Hawi. The common denominator was that Kaslik is a largely Christian and therefore anti-Syrian area and both Kassir and Hawi had been loud critics of Damascus’ role in Lebanese affairs.
However, with the bomb blast on Murr’s motorcade as he drove through a largely Christian area, the scenario would seem to have changed because the defense minister is pro-Syrian. Seasoned conspiracy theorists may suspect that this latest outrage was in fact mounted by pro-Syrian thugs in an attempt to throw blame on those who oppose Syrian influence. After all anyone could have driven a car bomb into the suburb of Antelias. That Murr survived could give credence to such speculation. There is, however, an even darker possibility behind these attacks, which is that Al-Qaeda is seeking to open a new front of chaos in the region by attacking Lebanon’s old scars and murderously impersonating first one rival faction and then the other.
This is surely, however, the moment for everyone in Lebanon to stand back and recognize a key truth. Any such callous attack by whomever upon any leading Lebanese figure, regardless of his political affiliation, is an attack upon all Lebanese. Every community in the country has paid an exorbitant price in blood and grief to reach the present point on the road back to prosperity as well as peace. Unfortunately there are still many at large who did very well out of the lawless days of civil war and who now fear the challenges of peace and stability. It is these people who rejoice at the car bombings, even if they are not actually responsible for them themselves. They believe that if sufficient outrages can be piled one upon another, the hopes and confidence of the ordinary Lebanese can be shattered and the way will be left open for a return to civil disorder and their blood-stained profits.
The men of violence, whoever they are, can only be defeated by the determination of the populace at large, not to be dragged back into the downward spiral of conflict. But in the end it is for each and every decent citizen to pass his own verdict on these outrages. By rejecting a return to the barricades, by refusing to be panicked into despair and anger and by supporting the fabric and institutions of an independent Lebanon, all political interests in the country can defeat this threat.
