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Assassination Raises Tension as Lebanon Seeks to Bridge Divide
By Anna Fifield in Beirut
Financial Times
The assassination of a pro-Syrian politician has heightened tension in Lebanon, less than a week before talks begin aimed at reconciling deep divisions between the country's factions.
Saleh Aridi, a senior member of the Lebanese Democratic party, which is allied to the militant Shia group Hizbollah, was killed on Wednesday night by a bomb as he started his car at his house in the mountains east of
Beirut, the capital.
It was the first political assassination in Lebanon in almost a year. But unlike previous attacks that targeted those opposed to Syria's influence in Lebanon, including former prime minister Rafiq
Hariri, this hit a Hizbollah ally.
Aridi was a close adviser of Talal Arsalan, a Druze leader who is a minister in the new unity government and who recently helped bridge differences among the Muslim sect that comprises
about 10 per cent of Lebanon's population.
Mr Arsalan pointed the finger yesterday at Israel, which he said "has an interest in igniting strife and exploding the internal situation" in Lebanon.
Lebanese
leaders urged calm. "We must beware of conspiracies aimed . . . at scuttling efforts toward reconciliation and preparations for national dialogue," said Michel Suleiman, the president.
In Washington, the state
department voiced concern and said its support for the Beirut government was "unwavering''.
The attack has significant implications for Lebanon's political stability, coming only a day after Mr Suleiman announced
the resumption on September 16 of a "national dialogue" aimed at forming a defence strategy and defining the roles of the army and militias such as Hizbollah.
The talks are part of a peace deal reached in Qatar
in May after an 18-month political crisis that culminated in sectarian fighting between Hizbollah militants and pro-government Sunni and Druze factions, almost plunging Lebanon into another civil war.
Sporadic fighting
has continued between Alawites, a Shia offshoot with strong links to Syria, and Sunni in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. But political leaders hope an accord signed on Monday will put an end to those clashes.
Particularly difficult discussions are expected next week over the fate of Hizbollah's weapons.
The western-supported majority coalition wants the Shia group to be disarmed but Hizbollah, which is backed by Iran and
Syria, says it needs to defend Lebanon against Israeli threats. Hizbollah now leads the opposition in the national unity government.
Mr Suleiman, the former army chief appointed president as the result of the May talks,
is considered uniquely qualified to preside over the talks.
"Suleiman is in a better position than anyone else to bring everyone together and start the discussion," said a western diplomat in Beirut. "And
even a year ago these people would never have been talking to each other."
But the government has been playing down expectations of immediate progress.
"There are problems that we may not solve in one,
two, three, four or even five sessions," Tariq Mitri, the information minister, said in Beirut this week.
"But [the fact there are talks] suggests we are developing the ways and means in which these problems
can be addressed."
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