Here's the story from al-Reuters (but I don't believe I've seen the WashingtonTimes carry their news before):
Assassination in Beirut
A huge car bomb yesterday killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, a billionaire who masterminded his country's reconstruction but resigned four months ago amid tensions with Syria.
At least nine others, including several of Mr. al-Hariri's bodyguards, died when his motorcade was blown up as it passed through an exclusive section of Beirut's seafront.
Former Economy Minister Basil Fuleihan, also riding in the convoy, was critically wounded in the blast, the biggest in Lebanon since the end of the nation's 1975-90 civil war. At least 100 other persons were injured, officials said.
The United States condemned the killing and said it would consult with members of the United Nations Security Council about how to punish Mr. al-Hariri's killers and get Syrian troops out of Lebanon.
Lebanese opposition figures, including Druze party chief Walid Jumblatt and Christian ex-President Amin Gemayel, blamed Syrian and Lebanese authorities for Mr. al-Hariri's death and called on the government to resign. Syrian officials condemned the killing and denied any role.
[...]
A previously unknown Islamist group said in a video aired by < b>Al Jazeera television that it had carried out a suicide attack against Mr. al-Hariri because he supported the Saudi royal family.
[Perhaps, but I doubt it. I'm going with Assad's boys myself, too.--Jen]
Hours later, Lebanese security forces stormed the Beirut home of a Palestinian who they said had read the statement on the video. A security source said Ahmed Aboul Adef was not in the house.
Opposition figures, who convened an emergency meeting after the assassination, called a three-day general strike and demanded the withdrawal of Syrian forces, which have been in Lebanon since the civil war.
[And if I'm not mistaken, they're under some kind of U.N. "truce" situation, too. Figures, doesn't it?--J.T.]
Lebanese voices calling for Damascus to pull out its 14,000 troops have grown louder, backed by a Security Council resolution last year.
[After President Bush and British PM Blair made sure that those U.N. resolutions against Saddam were most definitely enforced, maybe this gesture has some teeth in it to curb the world's despots like Assad. Here's hoping!]
Protesters gathered outside the Lebanon headquarters of Syria's ruling Ba'ath Party and accused Damascus of plotting the killing. They pelted the building with stones, burned pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and set tires on fire.
Mr. al-Hariri had remained politically influential since his resignation and recently joined the opposition calls for Syria to quit Lebanon before parliamentary elections later this year.
[Wow! First we have elections in Paleostine and Iraq, then Soddy Arabia, and now Lebanon/Syria and Egypt, too.
Freedom is on the march in the Middle East, albeit slowly and quietly.
This is all because we invaded Iraq, régime-changed Saddam, and made democratic elections there possible thus making the whole region "unstable."
As we neocon RW warmongers told you before we launched OIF, this instability is a feature not a bug!--Jen]
[...]
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said yesterday that he was "shocked" by the news of Mr. al-Hariri's assassination, but that he doubted Syria was behind the killing.
[Well, he would, wouldn't he?]
"It would be too obvious," Mr. Gheit told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "I just do not think the [Syrian government] would throw down the gauntlet to the world in this manner."
[Then again, Mr. Gheit, they might.]
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington would consult with other governments on measures that could be taken to punish those responsible for the blast.
In a barely veiled reference to Syria, he said international pressure was needed "to restore Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and democracy by freeing it from foreign occupation."
France joined the United States in calling for an international investigation.
[Well, lookee here!
The Frogs are with us!
That's because they consider Lebanon to be one of their remaining colonies in the French empire.
Oh, well, there's room for them in this boat, I suppose.]
Mr. al-Hariri, 60, had held office for most of the past 12 years before quitting in October amid a rift with Mr. Lahoud.
Mr. al-Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, spent about 20 years in Saudi Arabia, where construction deals made him a fortune that Forbes estimated at $3.8 billion in 2003.
Poor Mr. al-Hariri's billions couldn't save his life--Allah rest him!
I'm sure this car bomb is only the opening salvo for the mini-war that most likely will and must go on to bring about the Democratic Reformation in Lebanon and Syria.
Before this year, Damascus had relied on the "buffer zone" of the Paleostinian areas, not to mention Saddam's Iraq, to protect them while they nurtured Sunni Islamist terrorism, murder and genocide--inter alia, they could fire at the Israelis in the Bekka Valley with impunity.
Syria must get its troops and its influence out of Lebanon (which used to be made up primarily of Christians and Jews before Arafat Islamicized it by waging his jihadi war there) and the Syrian people need to exercise their human liberty to be free of the rule of Baby Assad, the eye doctor.
Keep the popcorn kernels ready: this will probably get very interesting, very quickly.
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