BAYSUR, Lebanon: The rival leaders of Lebanon’s Druze community, speaking at the funeral yesterday of a pro-Syrian politician, accused foreign powers of being behind his car bomb assassination.
“This odious crime demonstrates that Lebanon is completely at the mercy of foreign secret services,” said Walid Jumblatt, of the country’s anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, at the funeral of Saleh Aridi.
Aridi, of the Lebanese Democratic Party, was killed late Wednesday by a bomb under his car in Baysur, southeast of Beirut. He was the right-hand man of Jumblatt’s main rival, pro-Damascus partly leader Talal Arslan.
Hundreds of people, including representatives of the rival Druze camps, gathered in Aridi’s hometown yesterday for the funeral ceremony.
Jumblatt, known for his hard line toward the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, did not directly blame anyone for Aridi’s death, instead referring to “the role of states that sow discord and support terrorism.”
Arslan, who is also youth and sports minister in the country’s new government of national unity, implied that Israel was behind the deadly attack, calling it “the only enemy of Lebanon.” On Thursday he refused to speculate on who may have been behind the killing of his close aide — the first pro-Damascus personality to die in an attack of this kind.
Wednesday’s bombing came less than a week before a renewed national dialogue that aims to reconcile the government and the opposition, whose differences erupted in May into deadly sectarian violence that killed more than 65 people.
The murder was a grim reminder of the series of bomb attacks that have shaken Lebanon over the past three years, killing a number of anti-Syrian politicians.
The national dialogue, due to begin on Tuesday, is set to focus on forming a “national defense strategy” in which the relationship between militias and the army in defending the country is to be defined. A primary focus will be the arsenal of Shiite group Hezbollah.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Aridi’s murder and sent his condolences to his family. Ban said he hoped the perpetrators of the attack were brought to justice quickly.
“I condemn yesterday’s car bombing and urge restraint.
This is a very frustrating situation, that we see many such bombings and killings.
This violence only underscores how important it is for dialogue and reconciliation to move forward,” Ban told reporters at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Ban said, however, that he was “encouraged” by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman’s “efforts toward establishing an inclusive national dialogue, also including diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria.”
UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro arrived in Lebanon on Thursday, Ban said, and her visit would focus mainly on economic development. But she also planned meetings with Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.
