The (n)ever changing story

Il deputato della maggioranza parlamentare antisiriana, Antoine Ghanem, e' stato assassinato ieri in un attentato a Beirut, nel quartiere cristiano Est della città, Sin-el-Fil.
Nell'attentato sono morte altre otto persone e ci sono stati 20 feriti.

Il 25 settembre in Libano ci saranno le elezioni per il rinnovo presidenziale. Una campagna a colpi di sangue.

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The assassination of an anti-Syrian Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem was aimed at scuttling a looming presidential poll and foiling attempts at political reconciliation, the Lebanese press said Thursday.
"Antoine Ghanem, a bloody message for the majority and the presidential election," thundered the front-page headline of the leading An Nahar newspaper.

Parliament was due to meet on Tuesday to vote on a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud but rival political leaders have failed to agree on a consensus candidate, raising fears of further turmoil.
Ghanem's death reduced the anti-Syrian coalition's majority to 68 members out of the now 127-member house, with numbers set to play a key role in the vote.

Speaker Nabih Berri, a key opposition figure, said last month that the Hizbullah-led opposition was ready to drop its demands for a national unity government if all parties agree to choose a new president by consensus when parliament convenes on September 25. Lebanon has been mired in a political stalemate since last November, when pro-Syrian opposition forces, led by hizbullah, withdrew their six ministers from the government.

Al-Mustaqbal daily, owned by the family of MP Saad Hariri, said Ghanem's killing was "a quick response by the Syrian regime and its intelligence services to the call of the Council of Maronite Bishops" which on Wednesday urged lawmakers to take part in the vote.

"Antoine Ghanem martyred: assassinating reconciliation through the presidency," headlined the leftist As Safir newspaper, which tilts toward the opposition.

"Assassination threatens reconciliation and paves the way for chaos," added the opposition daily Al-Akhbar.