Region | Lebanon

Lebanese MP assassinated

A prominent anti-Syrian columnist and Member of Parliament was yesterday assassinated in a car bomb attack on his convoy at a Beirut suburb a day after he returned from his hiding in France.

  • Gulf News Report
  • Published: 23:31 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

Dubai: A prominent anti-Syrian columnist and Member of Parliament was yesterday assassinated in a car bomb attack on his convoy at a Beirut suburb a day after he returned from his hiding in France.

The attack came hours after the out-going UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, inquiring into the murder of Lebanese former prime minister Rafik Hariri, submitted his second report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

The report said Syrian cooperation with its investigation into Hariri killing was slow and called on Damascus to arrest Syrian suspects. The report said it had identified 19 suspects but did not name them.

The car bomb attack on Lebanese lawmaker Jibran Tueni, 48, publisher of An-Nahar daily, also killed his driver and bodyguard.

Lebanese Leaders opposing Syria's 30-year influence in Lebanon accused Damascus of directly plotting and executing the assassination. Syria denied the charges.

Druze leader Walid Junblatt told Gulf News the party that killed Tueni was responsible for the series of assassinations and attempted murders in the past few months. However, Amal and Hezbollah, the two Shiite Syrian-allies, pointed fingers at foreign involvement in the crime, and accused Israel of working to destablise Lebanon and Syria.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he would ask the UN Security Council to look into the killing of Tueni.

  • Rate this article
  • Average reader rating (0 votes) 0 Stars
Tools

Emailing an article to friend is a simple way to share a news item. Your friend will receive an email with your name and email address as well any personal message you choose to send.

The information you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited emails.

This service is not intended to encourage spam, and action may be taken against individuals who maliciously enter personal details of another individual.

Share this article

More from Lebanon

  1. Unity Cabinet unlikely to tackle divisive arms issue

  2. Hezbollah leader lashes out at Obama

  3. New Lebanese regime's priorities

  4. Lebanon's unity cabinet comes under scrutiny

All articles in Lebanon

More from Region

Gulf News
Popular in News
News Editor's choice