Anti-Syrian Unity In Lebanon

The Daily Star in Lebanon is quite an interesting read today. It probably will remain so for quite awhile to come.

Fallen son laid to rest as Lebanese vent their anger:

An estimated quarter of a million Lebanese people, many chanting anti-Syria slogans, took to the streets of Beirut in an outpouring of anger and grief for the funeral of assassinated premier Rafik Hariri.

Observers said the funeral was the largest in Lebanese history as mourners from all confessions, ages and social backgrounds joined the procession.

But following requests from the Hariri family, government officials stayed away from the funeral. The only government official to attend was long-time Speaker Nabih Berri.

The family, which indirectly blames the government for the assassination, had rejected an offer of a state funeral and instead asked the Lebanese people to join them in their grief.

One of the mourners, Raja Halawi, said: "Today is important as Muslims, Christians and Druze have come together. They are all here to condemn the killing. They are all here for Lebanon and to tell Syria it cannot play with our fates any more."

As expected the Lebanese government is rejecting calls for an international investigation into the assassination of Hariri. Although the Swiss are being called in to help provide the government and the Syrians with technical expertise. There is widespread speculation that the claims of responsibility for the attack by a Palestinian youth are bogus.

Separately, Lebanese judicial sources revealed that investigators were expected to receive the results of DNA tests of people who had left Lebanon for Saudi Arabia and Australia after Monday's attack, from Australian and Saudi Interpol.
The results will be compared to DNA tests taken of the parents of Ahmed Abu Adass, the Palestinian who claimed responsibility for Hariri's assassination in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television.

Adass has been missing since Monday.

Neighbors of Adass in Beirut refuted the possibility of his involvement in the crime, saying the suspect suffered from drug problems and psychological disorders so pronounced that he had been interned repeatedly.

Others said he was not a fundamentalist, only having started to go to the mosque recently, and that he was not a seasoned driver, thus incapable of driving a van loaded with explosives.

Adass' claim to the crime, in the name of an obscure Islamic group, has also been questioned by experts, who suggest it required highly sophisticated technology that only a well organized group or government might possess.

As a columnist for the Daily Star noted the fact that Syria was instantaneously blamed for the murders just shows how precarious their hold in Lebanon is at the moment. If the United States and France can lead international pressure by presenting a united front in this matter, which seems likely, there is great hope that Syria can be pushed back without a military operation being necessary.Let's hope that hope is well founded.