0pposition seeks truth behind the killing of anti-Syrian figures


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Saturday January 13, 2007

Beirut- Lebanon's opposition, led by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, called Saturday on the government to reveal the truth behind the assassination of anti-Syrian leaders in the country. The demonstration headed by Hezbollah accused the government of exploiting the killings and denounced the lack of progress in the investigation.

This was considered an odd position for the Lebanese opposition to adopt as it has been accused by the country's Western-backed government of being involved in the assassination of mainly Christian anti-Syrian figures in the past two years.

"We want to know why the government doesn't reveal the truth about these political assassinations," read banners carried by some of the 1,000 opposition followers in downtown Beirut.

The protestors carried posters of six prominent anti-Syrian figures who have been assassinated in the past two years, among them anti-Syrian Member of Parliament Jubran Tueini and former industry minister Pierre Gemayel.

"The opposition wants the truth about these assassinations," said Jubran Bassil, a leader in the Free Patriotic Movement of Christian leader Michel Aoun, a close ally of Hezbollah.

"We want the guilty to be arrested and punished and then the government to stop politically exploiting these assassinations", he said.

An ongoing UN probe into the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri, has suggested that there are links between the Hariri assassination and other attacks.

The opposition was denounced by the family of Gemayel who was killed in broad daylight in November 2006.

"The opposition's so called sit-in is a shameful act...and it does not fool anyone..." said a statement from the family of Gemayel.

Gemayel's father, former president Amin Gemayel, pointed an accusatory finger last week at the National Syrian Socialist Party in his son's killing.

The Lebanese government has been locked in a serious political crisis after the resignations of six members of the 24-member cabinet in mid-November followed by Gemayel's assassination.

Since December 1, the opposition has been holding an ongoing sit- in outside government offices in downtown Beirut calling for the formation of a new unity government and the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's cabinet.

The Western-backed government of Seniora has rejected such a demand saying it is aimed at derailing the establishment of the international court to try suspects in the Hariri assassination, which Syria and its Lebanese allies have been accused of.

After Hariri's assassination in 2005, four anti-Syrian political leaders were killed in various attacks, and a minister and a television presenter were seriously injured.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency