Assad’s regime main suspect in Lebanon’s high-profile assassination

Saturday, 20 October 2012

According to analysts, the murder of General Wissam al-Hassan in a car bombing on Friday showed that even in its weakened state, Syria could still take action on the ground in Lebanon. (Reuters)

By AFP

Beirut 

Damascus has emerged the prime suspect in the assassination of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian police intelligence chief but his death is unlikely to plunge the country into chaos, analysts said on Saturday.

They said the murder of General Wissam al-Hassan in a Beirut car bombing on Friday appeared to show that even in its weakened state Lebanon’s neighbor and former occupier Syria could still take action on the ground.

 “Hassan was targeted daily by pro-Syrian newspapers in Lebanon and Damascus accused him of aiding rebels hostile to (President) Bashar al-Assad,” said Ghassan al-Azzi, a politics professor at Beirut’s Lebanese University.

Assad’s regime main suspect in Lebanon’s high-profile assassination