A powerful bomb tore through a shopping mall in the Christian area north of Beirut March 23, killing three Asian immigrant workers and bringing Lebanon closer to chaos weeks before general elections. (Reuters [2], March 23) It is the latest outburst in an escalating climate of violence that has many fearing a new outburst of civil war [3].
"It is a political message to the [anti- Syrian] independence uprising," said Fares Boueiz, an opposition legislator and former minister. "Whoever was behind the blast had the intention to tell the Lebanese that Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon had a price." (CSM [4], March 24)
Meanwhile, Michel Abu Arrajm, top investigator in the assassination probe of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, asked to step down ahead of a UN report expected to criticize the Lebanese government's handling of the probe. The investigation is at the core of the political turmoil in Lebanon. The opposition has refused to join a new cabinet until the prime minister-designate agrees to an international probe. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned at an Arab summit in Algeria March 23 that an international investigation may be necessary. (AP [5], March 23)
