Lebanon in mourning for slain general

 

Lebanon observed on Friday a day of national mourning as it prepared to bury a top army general whose killing has worsened a festering political crisis.
 
Under a pouring rain, the coffin of Brigadier General Francois el-Hajj, wrapped in a Lebanese flag, was transported early Friday from the morgue to his family home in Beirut”s eastern suburb of Baabda ahead of the funeral.

 

Residents clapped in sign of respect and threw rose petals as the coffin was carried by officers through lines of soldiers to the tune of a funeral march played by an orchestra near his house.

 

A funeral mass was due to be held for Hajj in a cathedral on the hilltop region of Harissa, northeast of Beirut, before the burial ceremony in his native village of Rmaich, near the border with Israel.

 

A day of national mourning was declared Friday with all schools and universities closed.

 

Hajj and his bodyguard were killed by a car bomb on Wednesday, and analysts believe he was targeted because he was tipped to replace army chief General Michel Sleiman, the leading candidate for the presidency.

 

Lebanon has been without a head of state since November 23 when incumbent Emile Lahoud stepped down at

the end of his term, with rival political parties unable to agree on a successor.

 

Hajj”s murder triggered a chorus of condemnation across the globe and warnings it could further destabilise Lebanon which is still reeling from the devastation inflicted by the 1975-1990 civil war.