Lebanese army on 'high alert' following assassination

The Lebanese army has been placed on high alert, following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in the capital, Beirut, yesterday.

The army has been placed on high alert, amid fears that the assassination could mark a return to the conflict last seen in the 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.

Mr Hariri was killed, along with at least nine other people, in a car bomb attack, close to St Georges Hotel in the city. Around hundred people were also injured in the blast, reported to be the largest in the city since the end of the civil war, which ravaged the country between 1975-1990.

Three days of national mourning have been declared following Mr Hariri's death and Jacques Chirac, President of France, Lebanon's former colonial power, has called for an international inquiry into the attack.

It is unclear what the motive for the attack was. It has been reported that Lebanese opposition leaders have blamed both the Lebanese and Syrian government for the killing, although both governments have denied any involvement.

Opposition leaders have called on the government to resign and Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon in the wake of Mr Hariri's death.

A relatively unknown group, called Victory and Jihad, have issued a statement through Al-Jazeera television, stating that they had carried out a suicide attack against Mr Hariri, because of his associations with the Saudi government.

Mr Hariri, 60, a self-made billionaire, was Lebanon's Prime Minister from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation in October last year.

US President George Bush issued a statement to say that he was "shocked and angered" at the murder of Mr Hariri.

He described Mr Hariri as "a fervent supporter of Lebanese independence" and said that his murder was "an attempt to stifle efforts to build an independent sovereign Lebanon, free of foreign domination."

(KMcA/SP)