Another outspoken critic of Syrian involvement in Lebanon, lawmaker and newspaper magnate Gebran Tueni, was murdered yesterday in a mountain road bombing. The crime had many of the hallmarks of previous murderous attacks, which have been blamed on the Syrians, not least the murder of Rafik Hariri in February. Yet because this is Lebanon, all need not necessarily be what it seems to be.
The United Nations investigation has already concluded that Damascus was behind the Hariri assassination. Even as Tueni was slain, the latest report into the earlier crime was on its way to the UN Security Council. It is believed to set out in great detail the involvement of top Syrian officials in the politician’s death. Why would the Syrians compound their problems now by assassinating yet another of their Lebanese opponents?
Since the Hariri murder, 13 other anti-Syrian Lebanese have been assassinated. The first crime brought about the end of Syria’s military presence in Lebanon. Subsequent killings have only embittered many Lebanese who, while they may be grateful for Syria’s earlier interventions, now wish Damascus to leave its neighbor alone. Why should Syria make its international problems worse by another murder? On the face of it, Damascus can only lose because of suspicions that it is again implicated. Therefore suspicions must turn to those who wish to see the Syrians further discomfited. Yet, for anti-Syrian elements to organize the barbarous murder of one or more of their own number, to drive home their campaign against Damascus, would be as repugnant as it is cynical. In the looking-glass world of Lebanese rivalries, however, this need not be the only explanation. There are bitter personal enmities and shadowy criminal gangs — who profited immensely from the long years of civil war — and finally, nihilist elements prepared to destroy the Lebanon’s hard-won stability and plunge it back into political chaos. Then of course there is the double bluff. Renegade Syrian elements may be carrying out these assassinations in the belief that no one would think them so stupid as to continue such a campaign when the eyes of the world are fixed so sternly upon Syria. Such a strategy would have the added benefit of sowing fear among anti-Syrian Lebanese who see old scores being settled by such ruthless bloodshed.
We have to assume that the Lebanese police are doing their utmost to investigate each of these dreadful crimes with as much care and detail as possible. If necessary, perhaps the UN should offer extra resources. Far more important, however, is the attitude of ordinary Lebanese. These murders are clearly meant to foster suspicion, anger and, if possible, despair. Outrageous though the attacks are, the Lebanese will be the only losers if they allow themselves to be provoked, to abandon the pluralist political fabric that they have put in place and revert to their former communal alliances. Grim though the present campaign of assassination may be, it is nothing compared to the violent past from which the country has finally managed to escape.
