Lebanon Tense after Car-bomb Attempt on Prime Minister; Tie to Syria Seen

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The future of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati remains unclear after being asked by President Michel Suleiman to remain in his post “for a period of time” in response to Mikati’s attempt to resign. On Saturday, Mikati suspended his resignation. The incident stemmed from Friday’s assassination by car bomb of a senior intelligence official and four others, after which Mikati surmised that it was linked to the victim’s role in identifying Syrian complicity in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Harir in 2005. More than 100 were wounded in Friday’s explosion. Upon word of the assassination, demonstrators – many of whom were armed – took to the streets of Beirut and other cities to protest the murder of Gen. Wissam Al-Hassan in the capital. The opposition movement has declared Sunday a “day of rage” to protest the killing. Accusations that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was behind the act increased fear that the Syrian civil war is spreading to neighboring Lebanon in ways more deadly than the flow of refugees fleeing the fighting. Hassan was key to uncovering the alleged link to Assad and Hizbullah in the 2005 Al-Hariri assassination. In August, a former minister who was a supporter of Assad was indicted in that crime. Sectarian violence is on the rise in Lebanon, much of it fueled by developments related to the aftermath of the Hariri killing and the ensuing investigation.