BEIRUT — The funeral for Lebanon’s slain intelligence chief descended into chaos Sunday as soldiers fired tear gas at protesters who tried to storm the government palace, directing their rage at a leadership they consider puppets of a murderous Syrian regime.
The assassination of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in a massive car bomb Friday threatens to shatter the fragile political balance in Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife — much of it linked to political and military domination by Damascus.
“The Sunni blood is boiling!” the crowd chanted as hundreds of people clashed with security forces. More than 100 protesters broke through a police cordon of concertina wire and metal gates, putting them within 50 yards of the entrance to the palace.
Authorities responded with tear gas, and several officers fired machine guns and rifles into the air. One plainclothes guard pulled a pistol from his belt and fired over protesters’ heads. Then a roar of automatic gunfire erupted, sending the protesters scattering for cover.
It was unclear whether the guards fired live bullets or blanks, but no protesters were reported injured by gunfire. Several were overcome by tear gas, and the government’s media office said 15 guards were injured.
The killing of al-Hassan has laid bare some of Lebanon’s most intractable issues: the country’s dark history of sectarian divisions, its links to the powerful regime in Damascus, and the role of Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group that dominates Lebanon’s government and is Syria’s closest ally.
Many fear that the crisis could lead to the kind of street protests and violence that have been the scourge of this Arab country of 4 million people for years, including a devastating 1975-90 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.
Al-Hassan, 47, was a powerful opponent of Syria in Lebanon. He headed an investigation over the summer that led to the arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha, one of Syria’s most loyal allies in Lebanon.
He also led the inquiry that implicated Syria and Hezbollah in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
Al-Hassan was buried near Hariri in Beirut’s central Martyrs Square, where thousands of people gathered earlier Sunday for the funeral. TV footage showed al-Hassan’s wife Anna, his young sons Majd and Mazen, and his parents shedding tears near his coffin.
Turnout at his funeral fell well short of expectations, suggesting the country’s anti-Syria bloc is rudderless.
Security officials have said seven others were killed by the car bomb, including al-Hassan’s bodyguard. But Lebanon’s National News Agency said Sunday that the death toll was three: al-Hassan, his bodyguard and a civilian woman.
The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.
Al-Hassan knew his life was in danger because of his position as head of the intelligence division of Lebanon’s domestic security forces, a role he took over in 2006. Mindful of the country’s history of political assassinations, he moved his family to Paris.
“Lebanon is in the eye of the storm,” said Fawaz Gerges, head of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. “The fact that the protesters came close to storming the parliament shows how deep the crisis of the state is and how weak the leadership has become.”
