New wave of violence feared

A cross-section of Lebanese expatriates yesterday said the assassination of Rafik Hariri was intended to weaken Lebanon.

They also expressed fear the killing could spark a new wave of violence in a country still recovering from years of civil war.

"We were seeing the new beginning for our country we were promised for so long," said Ismael Sayyad, a 26-year-old from Sidon, in Lebanon's south. "May God protect us," Sayyad said.

Darine Al Amir, a 28-year-old Lebanese woman, said: "We are the war generation and we don't want this kind of turmoil again."

Prominent Lebanese figures in Dubai also mourned Hariri's death. Joseph Ghusoub, the incoming president of International Advertising Association, described the assassination as an "earthquake".

Elias Bu Saab, the American University in Dubai's Vice-President, said: "Those behind the assassination are enemies of peace and Lebanon's prosperity."