Former Leader Slain in Beirut

Former Lebanese prime minister and billionaire construction magnate Rafik Hariri was killed by a massive car bomb Monday afternoon as his motorcade wended through a posh seaside Beirut neighborhood he had helped erect over the ruins of civil war.

The blast shook the ground for miles, chewed a crater 3 yards deep in the street and swathed luxury hotels and restaurants in thick black smoke. At least nine people died along with Hariri, and more than 135 were wounded.

It was unclear who killed Hariri, and why. He resigned as prime minister last year amid a mounting political battle over Syria’s longtime occupation of Lebanon, but remained a member of parliament and had moved toward the anti-Syrian forces. Many people held out hope that he would again serve in a top political post.

Hariri’s assassination raised fears of a dangerous escalation in tension over the 16,000 Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents who maintain a chokehold on Lebanese politics. Syria defied a September U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at it that called on all foreign forces to relinquish their hold on Lebanon. The blast comes as this traumatized and politically fragile nation prepares warily for parliamentary elections this spring.

In a tape sent to Al Jazeera satellite TV, a man seated before a black flag said that Hariri, who had made his fortune in Saudi Arabia and held Saudi citizenship, was a “Saudi agent” who had been killed because of his ties to the Saudi royal family. The tape’s authenticity could not be verified.

Monday night, Lebanese security forces stormed the home of a man they said had made the tape. Nobody was home, but agents seized documents, computer equipment and videotapes.

Yet many Lebanese, from opposition leaders to analysts and ordinary people, scorned the mysterious claim of responsibility and blamed Syria for Hariri’s death. In a nation where most people haven’t dared speak publicly of the Syrian occupation, mourners in the streets shouted, “Syria out!”

“I fear neither death nor jail! I will scream it at the top of my lungs: ‘God damn the Syrians!’ ” yelled Fatme Hassan, a 50-year-old woman who was among hundreds of dazed and hysterical mourners who flocked to the hospital after the blast. “They killed our leader. They killed him because he was a national figure, a unifying figure. Where are we headed?”

Syrian President Bashar Assad quickly denounced the bombing as a “horrible criminal action.”

Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, had won three elections and served as prime minister for a total of 10 years since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. He stepped down as premier in October after Lebanon’s parliament, pressured by Syria, voted to amend the constitution in order to extend pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud’s six-year term by three years.

Still, Hariri refrained from taking vehement stands. He was a moderate who often chose disapproving silence over condemnation and struggled to carve out neutral turf between two bitterly opposed camps.

“He did not stick his head out or show any serious position. He didn’t come out publicly and embarrass the government,” said Jamil Mroue, publisher of Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper. “But the insinuation was that he’d join the opposition [to Syrian influence]. This country is just too small; his predisposition was known.”

As a political figure, Hariri was deeply linked to the struggle over the Syrian occupation -- and analysts agreed that no matter who killed him, Syria would be hit with the fallout.

“Certainly, the mood is very clearly that Syria did this,” said Michael Young, a Lebanese analyst and newspaper columnist. “Syria will be blamed for it no matter who did it. They’ll be even more isolated internationally than they already are.”

The Bush administration, which has been particularly critical in recent weeks of the government in Damascus, said the bombing demonstrated the need for Syria to withdraw troops from its neighbor.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the United States would “consult with other governments in the region and on the [United Nations] Security Council today about measures that can be taken to punish those responsible for this terrorist attack, to end the use of violence and intimidation against the Lebanese people and to restore Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty and democracy by freeing it from foreign occupation.”

McClellan said that although it was too early to know who was responsible for the bombing, “we continue to be concerned by the foreign occupation in Lebanon.”

Since the end of the civil war brought calm to Lebanon, the bullet-pocked, crumbling buildings and weed-tangled streets of Beirut’s waterfront have been dramatically revamped into one of the most striking city centers in the Middle East. The bright rows of limestone buildings, trendy shops and restaurants were the work of a public-private partnership spearheaded by Hariri. The reconstruction of the capital was Lebanon’s symbolic farewell to its wrenching conflict, and Hariri was seen as driving it.

But beneath a polished surface, the country is still veined with bitter sectarian divides among Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Druze and Christians. In recent months, clashes have escalated between Syrian loyalists and an increasingly vocal opposition calling for Damascus to withdraw troops.

Syria sent troops into Lebanon in 1976 to help quell sectarian fighting but refused to relinquish control of its smaller neighbor even after the civil war ended.

September’s U.N. resolution essentially calling for Syria to pull out of Lebanon -- a measure spearheaded by France and the United States -- turned international attention to a quiet occupation that had been ignored for years.

Instead of backing down in the face of the U.N. demand, Damascus hardened its resolve. Syrian officials routinely exalt the “brotherly” relationship between the two countries, and insist both Lebanon’s government and its people want Syrian soldiers to stay and keep the peace.

When Syria pressured Lebanese lawmakers into amending the constitution last fall to extend President Lahoud’s term, the tampering was too much for Hariri. First he protested, but then he acquiesced briefly to Syrian demands. In the end, he resigned his post.

Lahoud and Hariri were longtime foes. But on Monday, Lahoud called the assassination “a dark point in our national history,” and pledged to bring the killers to justice.

Opposition leaders announced three days of mourning and general strikes, called upon the Security Council to convene, and demanded the resignation of the Lebanese government and the immediate withdrawal of Syrian forces.

Gibran Tueni, a leading anti-Syrian opposition figure, said there was no doubt who was to blame.

“Who is able to undertake such an operation?” he said. “We think Lebanon is completely under Syrian domination and therefore they’re responsible for the events here.”

Even before the assassination, many Lebanese were nervous about the approach of this spring’s parliamentary elections, which will be the first true test of public sentiment -- and depth of Syrian control -- since the U.N. resolution was passed.

“The further we move toward the elections, the further such problems there will be in Lebanon,” said Murhaf Jouejati, a Syria analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “I think there will be an escalation. Certainly in the last few weeks there has been an escalation of rhetoric, and it exploded today.”

Hariri’s death was condemned by many world leaders, who mourned the big-spending man widely credited with steering Lebanon away from the anguish of 15 years of civil war.

French President Jacques Chirac said the former prime minister “personified Lebanon’s indefatigable will for independence, freedom and democracy,” and called for an international investigation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said those responsible for the killing were seeking to sow chaos not only in Lebanon but also in neighboring states.

“The assassination proves that there are organizations and countries striving to undermine stability in the region, and to prevent democracy in the Arab world,” Shalom told Israel Radio from Paris, where he met Monday with Chirac.

And a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “Such acts are a reversion to a chapter in Lebanon’s history. It is imperative that the already fragile situation in the region should not be further destabilized.”

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Fatal Beirut blast

A car bomb that exploded in Beirut killed at least 10 people, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was coming from a parliamentary session. The blast raised fears of new violence in Lebanon’s dispute with its neighbor and occupier, Syria.

Key political events in Lebanon’s recent history:

1975: Civil war breaks out between Syrian-backed Muslims and Christian militias who later align themselves with Israel.

1976: Arab peacekeeping force, dominated by Syrian troops, deploys in attempt to end war. U.S. Ambassador Francis Meloy assassinated.

1978: Israeli forces launch six-day incursion into southern Lebanon to attack Palestine Liberation Organization bases and staging areas. U.N. Security Council adopts resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal and establishment of an international peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon.

1982: Israel invades Lebanon again. President-elect Bashir Gemayel, head of Israeli-allied Christian militia, killed in bombing. Israeli-allied Lebanese militias kill hundreds of Palestinians at refugee camps.

1983: Shiite suicide bomber attacks U.S. Embassy, killing 17 Americans and 46 others, prompting deployment of U.S. Marines. Six months later, Shiite car bombings target Marines and French paratroopers, killing 241 Americans and 58 French.

1984: U.S. forces leave Lebanon.

1987: Prime Minister Rashid Karami killed by bomb on his helicopter.

1989: Taif Accord paves way for 1990 end of 15-year civil war, which killed an estimated 100,000 people. President-elect Rene Mouawad slain in car bombing. Legislator Elias Hrawi elected president.

1998: Parliament elects pro-Syrian army commander, Gen. Emile Lahoud, as president.

2000: Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon.

2004: Parliament extends Lahoud’s term three years, after changing constitution. U.N. Security Council demands Syria withdraw all troops from Lebanon.

2004: A car bombing in central Beirut wounds opposition figure and former Economy Minister Marwan Hamadeh and kills his driver on Oct. 1.

Feb. 14, 2005: Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri killed by car bomb in Beirut.

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Sources: Associated Press, Lonely Planet’s ‘Middle East’

Times staff writers Sonni Efron and Paul Richter in Washington, Maggie Farley at the United Nations and Laura King in Jerusalem, along with special correspondent Rania Abouzeid in Beirut, contributed to this report.