Antoione Ghanem, a lawmaker from the Right-wing Maronite Catholic Phalange party, his bodyguards and five bystanders were killed by a 20 kilogram devise planted in a parked vehicle in the Beirut district of Sin el-Fil.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora responded to the eighth assassination of a leading figure since February 2005, by saying: “The hand of terror will not win and will not succeed in subduing and silencing us”. 

As Ghanem had returned from abroad only two days earlier, it was clear that he had been closely tracked by his killers before they struck. 

The government has taken over a luxury Beirut hotel to house the lawmakers in safety during the voting process but Ghanem, who did not see himself as a target, was on his way to a meeting outside when he was killed.

He was the fourth member of the governing coalition to die in the ongoing struggle for power in Lebanon.  This has cut down the coalition’s representation in the 128 seat parliament to 68.  Coalition leaders routinely blame the murders on Damascus which sent troops into Lebanon in 1976 to try to end the civil war and only withdrew them in 2005.

Syria denies role
But Syria denies responsibility. Dr Hisham Jaber, a former Lebanese army general, observed that no one really knows who is carrying out the killings. He does not believe that one party is involved. 

There are many groups trying to destabilise Lebanon for their own reasons, he stated.

This makes it impossible to identify culprits. The power struggle pits the US-backed government made up of Maronites, Sunni Muslims and Druze against the Shia Hizbollah-led Opposition which has the support of a major Maronite party as well as Sunni and Druze factions.

While the government has been cultivating confrontation with Damascus, the Opposition seeks rapprochement.   
President Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria who is set to retire on November 24th, has threatened to appoint a temporary government if House fails to elect a replacement by a simple majority of 65 in the 128-seat parliament.  However, the Opposition is threatening to boycott the assembly.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab League, and UN Secretary General Bank Ki Moon have pressed the government camp to compromise by accepting a consensus candidate. But the US has been pressing Premier Siniora to stick by his bloc’s favourite, deputy Nassib Lahoud.

Washington is determined that the new president should take a strong anti-Syrian line and that Lebanon should adopt a pro-Western stance on regional issues.

Hizbollah is committed to independence from the West and an Arab nationalist policy on West Asian issues, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.