The assassination of Hariri probably needs to be read as against a 30 yr. record that includes the assassinations or attempted assassinations of Kamal Jumblatt, President-elect Bashir Gemayel, President Rene Mouawad, Marwan Hamadeh (close ally of Walid Jumblatt), and now Rafiq Hariri. In one or two cases, the evidence is ambiguous, but in most of these instances there was clearly a Syrian hand or operative. What the victims shared was a inclination to stake out a position independent of Syria. Of course, it is uncomfortable for Syria to be accused, but the opposition in Lebanon has been enlivened over the past months, and the background music of Resolution 1559 is playing. Uncomfortable though it may be for Syria in international opinion, in certain quarters of Syria the stakes in Lebanon are existential and existential challenges may be deemed to justify existential solutions.
Certainly the Lebanese will read this killing as a lesson to the opposition. If the most powerful and richest man is unsafe, who is safe?
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