Serial Killings Shift from Politicians to the Military

 

The spate of Serial killings plaguing Lebanon for over three years targeted the Lebanese Army on Wednesday, killing its chief of operations Brig. Gen. Francois el-Hajj in a major car bomb explosion.

 

The seat of the Maronite Church, in a statement released by its secretariat, denounced the “terrorist” crime and urged the speedy election of a new president.

 

France also called for the speedy election of a new head of state.

 

A BMW vehicle, rigged with over 35 kilograms of explosives, went off at 7:10 am as Hajj, 55, and his driver, Kheirallah Hadwan, drove by the Baabda municipality offices, that abut the presidential palace compound east of Beirut.

 

The powerful blast hurled Hajj”s GMC SUV for about 20 meters sending it off road into a ravine where it settled near a rivulet.

 

The bodies of Hajj and Hadwan were shattered by the powerful blast that echoed across Beirut and the surrounding mountainous resort.

 

Police said a third person was killed and his body was torn apart beyond immediate identification.

 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner denounced the killing as a “cowardly” attempt to destabilize the country.

 

“France condemns in the strongest terms the attack that claimed the life of a senior Lebanese army official, Francois El-Hajj, as well as several Lebanese citizens,” the minister said in a statement.

 

“This cowardly act, committed against one of the chief figures of the Lebanese military… is part of an obvious attempt to destabilize” Lebanon.

 

Kouchner said the “only response” should be to “elect without delay a new president” and keep the country functioning to “ensure its security, liberty and sovereignty.”

 

He urged the “entire international community to exercise the greatest possible influence” to help the country do so.

 

Hajj was a close aide to Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman, the frontrunner to become Lebanon”s next president but whose election has been blocked by a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian camps.

 

El-Hajj was tipped to head Lebanon”s armed forces if feuding politicians agreed to elect Suleiman president.

 

Hajj, born on July 27, 1953, was the chief of military operations of the Lebanese armed forces and a key figure in the army”s victory over Fatah al-Islam terrorists in a 15-week battle earlier this year.

 

Hajj was a “high-value target for the murderers… because he was tipped to become the future army chief,” to succeed army commander General Michel Suleiman, retired General Elias Hanna said.

 

A security official, who declined to be named, also confirmed that Hajj, a Maronite, was tipped to replace Suleiman on top pf the army after the presidential election.

“Francois el-Hajj was my friend. He was a true man, a distinguished officer and competent at what he was doing,” Hanna added.

 

A security official described Hajj as “a great man, a kind man, who was very intelligent.”

 

Hajj hailed from the southern Christian town of Rmeish, near the Lebanon-Israel border and was the target of an Israeli attack in the town in the late 1970s, according to the army.

 

Picture 1:
(Jamal Saidi/Reuters)
Picture 2: .
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)