The Assyrian Democratic Organization
USA – AFP — US President George W Bush has indirectly accused Syria of involvement in the Beirut blast that killed a Lebanese anti-Syrian MP and nine others. Sixty-five-year-old Lebanese MP Walid Eido, his eldest son Khaled, and eight others were killed in a bomb blast near his Beirut beach club that the ruling majority in Parliament blamed on Syria.
“There has been a clear pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Lebanon since October 2004,” Mr Bush said in a statement. “Those working for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon have always been the ones targeted. “The victims have always been those who sought an end to Syrian President Assad’s interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.
” Mr Bush says the US “will continue to stand up for Lebanon, its people, and its legitimate Government as they face these attacks”. Mr Eido, the Sunni chairman of Parliament’s defence committee, was a member of the Future Movement of MP Saad Hariri, whose father and former premier Rafiq Hariri was assassinated in a similar seafront blast more than two years ago.
Syria continues to wield considerable clout in Lebanon, where a stand-off between the Syrian-backed Opposition and the western-backed Government has paralysed politics for seven months.
