Beirut – The assassination Tuesday of Pierre Gemayel, a son of Lebanon’s most prominent Christian family and a leading opponent of Syria, threatens to intensify Lebanon’s power struggle between the U.S.-allied government and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
Gemayel, 34, was leaving church when he fell into a well- coordinated attack: One vehicle cut off his car from the front, another rammed him from behind, then gunmen burst out and sprayed a dozen bullets into his passenger-side window.
The killing of the young Cabinet member sent tensions spiraling at a time when Lebanon was already facing a worsening political crisis. The Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have threatened massive protests – as early as Thursday – aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government unless it gives them greater power.
President Bush condemned the assassination and accused Syria and Iran of seeking to undermine Siniora’s government. Bush stopped short of specifically blaming them for Gemayel’s death, though the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, raised the possibility.
Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, however, directly pointed the finger at Damascus, and some Gemayel supporters demanded revenge against Syria’s Lebanese allies.
Bands of young Christians broke car windows and burned tires and garbage cans in their areas of Beirut and the Gemayel family’s mountain hometown of Bikfaya to the northeast.
But Lebanese troops quickly stopped the unrest and set up checkpoints to prevent demonstrations in the coming days. A funeral was set for Thursday in downtown Beirut, with the anti-Syrian factions calling for mass participation.
Politicians from all sides scrambled to contain the fallout of the assassination, urging calm amid fears of an outbreak of the brutal violence between Lebanon’s sharply divided communities that marked the 1975-90 civil war.
A stunned-looking former President Amin Gemayel – Pierre’s father and leader of the Phalange Party – urged his supporters to observe a night of “prayer and reflection.”
“We don’t want an outburst of emotions and revenge,” he said outside the hospital where his son died. “He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon, and we want this cause to triumph. … To all those who love Pierre, we should not be driven by instinct.”
Bush called the slaying “the vicious face of those who oppose freedom” and vowed support for Siniora’s government.
Siniora’s government is dominated by opponents of Syria. Many see the demands by its opponents as a bid by Damascus to restore its influence in its smaller neighbor – and by Hezbollah to boost its power, riding on increased popularity among Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim population following the summer war with Israel.
Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken opponent of Hezbollah, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in the past two years and the first member of the Siniora government to be slain. Many in Lebanon have accused Damascus in the previous assassinations, including the 2005 bomb blast that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a claim Syria has denied.
Siniora went on national television to call for unity and warned that “sedition” was being planned against Lebanon. He linked Gemayel’s slaying to the issue that sparked the recent crisis with Hezbollah: a plan for an international court to try suspects in the Hariri assassination. He said Lebanese people should rally behind the government’s backing for such a court.
“I pledge to you that your blood will not go in vain,” Siniora said, eulogizing Gemayel.
Gemayel, the industry minister, was the rising star of his Maronite Christian political family, which has seen four other members killed in the past three decades of Lebanon’s violence.Past attacks on the Gemayel family have sparked brutal reprisals.
Pierre Gemayel
Born: Sept. 23, 1972, the eldest son of Amin Gemayel, who served as Lebanon’s president from 1982 to 1988. He was named after his grandfather, the late Pierre Gemayel, who founded the right-wing Phalange Party.
His religion: The Phalangists brought Lebanon’s Maronite Christian community to political prominence in Lebanon. They fielded the largest Christian militia during the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims, allying themselves first with Syria, then with Israel.
His family: The Gemayel family has been deeply enmeshed in the past three decades of bloodshed between Lebanon’s deeply divided communities. A 1975 assassination attempt against the grandfather prompted Phalangists to attack a busload of Palestinian refugees, sparking the civil war.
Previous violence: In 1982, Amin Gemayel’s brother, Bashir, was elected president, but days before he was to be sworn in, he was killed in a bomb blast – also at age 34. In response, his militiamen stormed Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the Lebanon conflict.
His leadership: Pierre Gemayel Jr. gained a more solid following during six years in parliament. He played a prominent role in rallying Lebanon’s youth during the so- called independence uprising – a wave of massive anti-Syrian protests that followed the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
