PARIS, 23 November 2006 — An international chorus of outrage over the assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian minister in Lebanon gathered force yesterday, with world leaders expressing concern the killing could spark renewed violence across the region.
The broad-daylight murder Tuesday of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel — the fifth senior Lebanese politician slain over the last two years — was widely condemned as an effort to topple the already weakened government of Fouad Siniora.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the killing in a telephone conversation with Siniora as “an attempt to prevent Lebanon from pursuing its path toward national unity and an independent state,” a view echoed in a statement yesterday by French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
“What is urgent...is for those who carried out and masterminded these murders to be made to answer for their crimes,” the French minister said. “What is happening is a destabilization of Lebanon, and we must respond with the greatest firmness.” While saying he would “obviously avoid designating the guilty party,” Douste-Blazy criticized Syria and Iran the day before the killing for “pushing for the destabilization” of the Siniora government.
Gemayal’s death has added to already heightened tensions between the country’s Western-backed government and the powerful pro-Damascus Shiite movement Hezbollah, whose ministers quit the Cabinet 10 days ago.
Syria has denied any participation in the assassination although past killings of anti-Syrian politicians have led to accusations against Damascus, for years the chief powerbroker in Lebanon.
Speaking from London, Lebanese Minister for Social Affairs Nayla Moawad — whose husband was assassinated in 1989 after serving just 17 days as president — told BBC radio that it was “very obvious” Syria was behind the killing.
The attack near a church at Jadaideh, north of Beirut, came on the day the UN Security Council endorsed plans to set up an international court to try suspects in the February 2005 murder of former Lebanese billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
A UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in Hariri’s murder, which sparked protests that forced Damascus to end nearly three decades of military domination in Lebanon.
Also yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the slaying as “brutal” and said Lebanon was “faced with obscure forces seeking to destroy the country.” “I call on all Lebanese not to let themselves be conquered by hate but instead to consolidate national unity, justice and reconciliation and work together to build a universal peace,” the pope told followers in Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican during his weekly audience.
Japan said it felt “extreme shock” and “strongly condemned this act,” according to a statement released by the foreign ministry.
Within the region, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa called the killing of the Christian Gemayel a “terrorist assassination,” adding that he feared “it could lead to turmoil in the country.” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking late Tuesday night by telephone with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, described the killing as an internal Lebanese matter, adding that he hoped it would not lead to national or regional unrest.
US President George W. Bush called for an investigation and immediate UN action, while the Security Council also condemned the attack.
“Today we saw again the vicious face of those who hate freedom,” Bush said.
He accused Iran and Syria of promoting “instability” in Lebanon, but stopped short of tying them outright to the killing.
