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Lebanese General assassinated

— PHOTO: AP

MACABRE SCENE: Soldiers at the site of a bomb blast in which a top Lebanese General was killed, in Beirut on Wednesday.

DUBAI: A top Lebanese military officer, tipped to be the next army chief, was assassinated on Wednesday.

A car bomb explosion killed Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, the army’s chief of operations. Brig. Gen. Hajj was the top contender for the post of army chief following the likely elevation of the present army chief, Gen. Michel Suleiman, to the Presidency. Gen. Suleiman is emerging as the consensus candidate for the post of President, which fell vacant when the term of Emile Lahoud expired last month.

The bombing took place in a high security area in the town of Baabda on the outskirts of Beirut. The area, where a number of top Lebanese politicians live, is not far from the presidential palace. Several foreign embassies are also located in the vicinity.

Analysts point out at least two motives for the assassination. First, it could be the handiwork of Islamist extremists seeking to avenge the Lebanese military action against the militant group Fatah al-Islam. Brig. Gen. Hajj had played a leading role in this attack in his capacity as the chief of operations. Nearly 400 persons, mainly militants and soldiers, were killed in the confrontation centred around the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, earlier this year.

Second, the assassins were intent on destabilising Lebanon at a time when the country appeared to be emerging out of a major political crisis over the Presidency.

In the past, Syria has been blamed for a string of assassinations in Lebanon, starting with the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. Damascus has strongly denied these charges. In a statement on Wednesday, an unnamed Syrian official was quoted as saying in the state news agency, Sana, that Israel had benefited from the crime.

“Israel and its agents in Lebanon are the beneficiaries of this crime, which cost the life of a Lebanese patriot who believed in the army, defended the resistance and worked for a united Lebanon,” the official said.

The army has ordered an investigation into the incident.

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