Blast at Anti-Syrian Stronghold Kills Two

03/23/2005

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A bomb killed two people in a Christian commercial center early Wednesday in the second attack in an anti-Syrian stronghold in five days, raising fears of sectarian violence intended to show a need for Syria’s military presence in Lebanon.

The explosion came hours after a demonstration by about 1,000 pro-Syrian students who marched on the U.S. Embassy, shouting “Death to America!” The students denounced what they said was Washington’s interference in Lebanon.

The two killed in Jounieh, a port about 10 miles north of Beirut, were reported to be Sri Lankan and Indian. The 45-pound bomb wounded four others.

Nematallah Abi Nasr, an opposition lawmaker, called on his supporters not to be carried away by attempts to sow sectarian strife.

“Each citizen should be his own guard,” Abi Nasr said.

Investigating magistrate Rashid Mezher told LBC-Al-Hayat television he had completed his investigation but would not disclose any details.

Early Saturday, a car bomb exploded in a Christian suburb of Beirut, wounding nine people and causing extensive damage to an adjacent commercial and residential building.

On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Syria’s president agreed to present a firm timetable by early April for a full withdrawal of his country’s troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.

Annan met President Bashar Assad on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Algeria and said Assad confirmed his commitment to the U.N. resolution calling for a Syrian withdrawal.

“The withdrawal has begun and it continues. He’s working out a timetable in consultation with the Lebanese authorities and will withdraw his troops completely into Syrian territory. Not just the troops but also the security service, as well as all the logistical and material equipment to Syria,” Annan told reporters.

Syria has pulled back its troops and intelligence agents into eastern Lebanon toward the border and has been promising to work out their complete removal with the pro-Syrian government in Beirut. It has so far not given a timetable, despite mounting international pressure led by the Bush administration, which has demanded that Syria withdraw its remaining 10,000 troops from Lebanon in compliance with a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last year.

The demands intensified after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which brought Syria’s long domination of Lebanon into the spotlight.

Syrian troops entered Lebanon, ostensibly as peacekeepers, in the second year of the 1975-90 civil war. They remained after the war, making Syria the power broker of Lebanese politics. The Beirut government and Lebanese supporters of Syria have long argued that the country needs Syrian soldiers to maintain stability.

A newspaper owned by Hariri’s family said Tuesday that a U.N. team that investigated the assassination would report that Lebanese authorities tampered with evidence and were negligent in their handling of the bomb blast that destroyed Hariri’s motorcade and killed 17 other people. The Lebanese opposition has blamed Syria and its Lebanese allies, who have both denied any involvement.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying the U.N. investigators found the authorities had “tampered with evidence by rushing to tow away Hariri’s motorcade from the scene of the crime” and had sent “a bulldozer to fill the crater and clear the road in order to open it to traffic.”

Annan said Wednesday he expects to report in the next few days on a fact-finding mission but added that he expected a more comprehensive investigation may be needed. The government says it is conducting its own investigation into the assassination.