Lebanese town tense after deadly shooting

 

The Lebanese town of Zahle observed an official day of mourning amid tension on Monday, with political leaders trading blame after two activists were shot dead at the opening of a Phalange party headquarters.

 

Funerals for Nasri al-Maruni and Salim Assi, whose son was among three people wounded in the Sunday evening attack, are planned for Tuesday.

 

Both Assi and al-Maruni were supporters of the Christian Phalange party, a member of Lebanon”s ruling coalition.

 

Police named a suspect in the shooting as Joseph Zouki and said they had launched a manhunt for him. He is thought to be a supporter of Zahle MP Elie Skaff, a Christian who backs the opposition.

 

Security sources in Zahle said that they were also looking for Zouki”s brother, Toni, who they suspect was with him at the time of the shooting.

 

A security official on Monday said Walid Zouki, a relative of Joseph, had turned himself in to the police. Although he was not an initial suspect “he seems to have had a role” in the crime, the official said.

 

Phalange leader and former president Amin Gemeyel called the incident a “premeditated act” in an interview on the LBC television channel.

 

He accused the assailants” “leaders of knowing full well where they are and what they need to do to turn them into the authorities”.

 

Gemeyel held “the leaders of the opposition responsible” for the act and slammed “Christian leaders of covering up an obvious terrible plot to spark divisions and ignite a war” in alluding to what his coalition identifies as a Syrian plot to destabilize Lebanon.

 

The former president”s son Sami Gemeyel had just left the headquarter inauguration at the time of the shooting. Another son, industry minister Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated in November 2006.

 

Skaff rejected Gemeyel”s accusations and told AFP that this was an “isolated act” and that he would “not provide protection for the assailants.”

 

Intense security measures have been taken in the eastern town with all cars being searched at checkpoints in the search of Zouki and his brother, a security official said.

 

“The security services have conducted several operations and raids where the person responsible for the attack could have taken refuge,” the security official said.

 

Lebanon”s general prosecutor Abdallah al-Bitar has arrived in Zahle to conduct an investigation, an AFP correspondent in the area said.

 

The deaths come amid Lebanon”s worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

 

Lebanon”s Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Western-backed cabinet of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora since its six ministers quit nearly 18 months ago.

 

The wrangling has left Lebanon without a head of state since last November when pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his mandate.

 

There have been 17 attempts to gather MPs to elect a president but every single one has failed. The next session, planned for Tuesday, is unlikely to take place as a political agreement between the two sides has not been reached.

 

Picture: Policemen outside a political party headquarters in the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle. Zahle is observing an official day of mourning amid tension a day after two activists were shot dead at the opening of a Phalange party headquarters.
(AFP/Joseph Barrak)