General among four killed in Lebanon car bomb
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007


BEIRUT, Dec 12, 2007 (AFP) - A Lebanese army general was among at least four people killed on Wednesday in a car bomb that also injured seven others in a suburb on the outskirts of Beirut, a security source told AFP.

"General Francois El Hajj was killed in the blast and several other people were injured, including his driver," said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

The official said Hajj was tipped to replace the army's top commander General Michel Sleiman, who is the frontrunner to become Lebanon's next president but whose election has been blocked by a standoff between the opposition and the ruling majority camps.

"He was a great man, a kind man, who was very intelligent," the official said, referring to Hajj.

The general, who was on his way to the defence ministry when the blast took place shortly after 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT), was head of operations in the army.

He gained prominence last summer during a fierce 15-week battle between the army and an Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist group at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

Earlier a Lebanese Red Cross official told AFP that four people were killed and seven were wounded in the morning rush-hour blast that rocked the suburb of Baabda, southeast of Beirut.

An AFP correspondant at the scene said the blast took place outside the Baabda municipal building, causing severe damage to the face of the structure and destroying several cars parked nearby.

Ambulances rushed to the site to evacuate the casualties and firefighters extinguished cars set ablaze, as police and army vehicles cordoned off the area.

Several officials said Hajj's assassination was linked to the battle at Nahr al-Bared camp.

"My first reaction is that this is linked to Nahr al-Bared," said MP Butros Harb, an MP with the ruling Western-backed majority.

"I am not sure that this is not a message to the army in order to destabilise it and remove the halo around it at a time when the commander in chief has been tipped to become president," he added.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Many Arab and Western embassies are in Baabda, home of the presidential palace which has been vacant since November 23 when the incumbent Emile Lahoud ended his term and left as feuding politicians bickered over his successor.

Buildings within a 100-metre (-yard) radius of the site of the explosion had their windows blown out and people rushed to the scene looking for their loved ones.

"Let me through, let me through, I want to find my father," one woman cried out as police kept her at bay.

The blast comes amid high tension in Lebanon which has been rocked by a number of political assassinations in the past two years that have killed several MPs and politicians.

On Tuesday a parliament session to elect the army chief as Lebanon's president was postponed for the eighth time, amid a tug-of-war between politicians and fears that a vote could be delayed until March.

The standoff between the opposition and the ruling majority camps marks Lebanon's worst political crisis since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war and there has been fear that it could spill out into violence.

Lebanon has been without a president since Lahoud ended his term on November 23.

The ruling coalition and the opposition have agreed to give the post to General Sleiman, but they are bickering over how to amend the constitution to allow for his election and over the shape of a new cabinet.

Lebanon has been on edge since the February 14, 2005 Beirut seafront bomb blast that killed former premier Rafiq Hariri, in an attack that was widely blamed on Syria and forced it to end three decades of military domination.

Damascus has denied any connection with the Hariri killing or any of the others since then.-AFP
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PLEASE PRAY FOR THE ONES OF US WHO'S LOVED ONES ARE IN LEBANON

it never will and that is the sad part about it.

Sometimes I just wonder about the world ... everything just seems so wrong!!!

My husband suggested that we go to Lebanon if I have to fly there again and I just *looked* at him. Maybe I'm a big baby but that place scares me to no end!

From what I've seen and heard, Lebanon is beautiful esp. Beirut. I don't think it's any more dangerous than any other part of the Mid East. Bombings happen all over the Mid East. Keep in mind Beirut today is not the Beirut of the 70s/80s.

and probably quite a bit safer than most major american cities.
that scene in syriana was um, intense. but there's more to beirut than that.

What scene?? I closed my eyes when he pulled out the pliers!

That's what he keeps saying that it's beautiful but they did have a war there just last year so I'm not thinking that it's safer there then here. Then again I really haven't looked into it that much.

Beirut is/was beautiful.... the Paris of the Middle East. I'll never forget my first glimpse of the city as we landed at night -- it looked like a glittering jewel with thousands of lights rising on the hills, all twinkling and dancing in the jet black mirror of the Mediterranean.....

Does anyone have any pictures? I'd love to see them! I don't recall anyone posting pics of Lebanon back when we had that picture thread.

i dont have any of downtown beirut mostly i have pics of the sea and such. let me find them and get them loaded on photobucket and ill post them.

That description alone makes me want to visit Beirut.

Beirut in the late 90s

Beautiful pics, MK! A couple of those look very much like Alexandria.

more to follow...these were taken above the city Jounieh at the Catholic area called Haressa

kinda sucks that i didnt get any pics downtown...if we are there this coming summer i will have to do that.





those are good pictures. did you take them?

Before the recent round of violence, Beirut was even becoming known as a hip hotspot. It's like the region just needs a good 40 years without a war to get back on its feet...

It's an absolutely gorgeous city. So much of what we see of Lebanon in the news here is just bombed out buildings. I'm sure a lot of Americans have no idea of Beirut's incredible beauty, grace and charm.

Great pics, Jess !

LOL Caladan actually Beirut is STILL very much a hip hotspot.... even with the latest violence.

No these are taken by a professional I got to reminiscing about the beautiful skyline, and so I pulled these up when Bridget asked for pics.....

Yeah, just with slightly freaked out foreign university students.

i really miss the beauty of lebanon...living in Saudi Arabia really makes me 'homesick' for the sights in Lebanon. it makes me sad that people cant get along there.

Here are a few pics
http:///.ning.com/profile/sweetpeach

The link doesn't work.


WOM - where's all the traffic!!! The roads look practically barren in those pics, though they are indeed beautiful! Maybe they were taken at odd hours? I'm so used to seeing all the traffic of Cairo. lol.

Well I *would* like to visit there but I guess I'm just a big baby as I said, especially with the new warning the dos put out last month about how americans should lay low until the elections are over.

I've never been to Saudia but I can imagine what a change it must be from Lebanon. But I guess you'll soon be having to take that "reprieve" in the U.S., so at least you'll get a break from it.

This assassination is interesting on a lot of levels. The murdered general was cozy with Michel Aoun's faction, which is of course allied with Hezbollah. Hmmmmmm now who might have wanted to rub him out....

Anyway insha'allah the wars will finish and people can live in peace.

Hey take some more pics for us in Saudia -- they're very interesting to see !



-MK

here are a few i took

Beautiful pics, sweet_peach !!

wow those are simply gorgeous!!!

id love to but in order to take pictures here you have to obtain a special permit. not cool. so the only pics ive taken here are people or the doggy lol.

I remember last summer in Morocco, every 5 minutes on the channel MBC there was a tourism campaign to visit Lebanon. I can still hear the music in my head till this day.
Shortly after that the bombings began and the commercials were yanked from the airways. It is a very beautiful country, however.

I think it's a matter of perspective - honestly after everything I've read about Egypt I'm getting pretty nervous about ever visiting there! I think that really in today's world, no place is safe. So we have to accept, try to fix it and go about our lives and not let it run our lives....

I think they must have airbrushed out all the cars LOL.

Well as for those State Department travel warnings....... well.............. sometimes -- at least in my experience -- you have to take them with a grain of salt..........

no place is safe indeed. i really want to visit this place called svalbard, and have been reading lots about it. anyways, they require you to carry a rifle at all times if you go outside the settlements. there's lots of polar bears there, and they will attack.

I hear you sister....

That had to be an odd occurrence because there is always traffic in Lebanon. So much traffic you feel as if you’re going to have a lung collapse from the fumes.....

i'm with you on that, ta me go....! I went to many places that were on the warning list because I wanted to go and nothing was going to stop me. I think people need to be wise and try to be safe in your decisions, but I think Lebanon of all places would be pretty safe to go to compared to other countries on the warning list. Svalbard looks pretty amazing too!