BEIRUT,
February 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Newspapers
across the Middle East Tuesday, February 15, voiced fears for
Lebanon's future after the devastating bomb attack that killed former
prime minister Rafiq Hariri, as the Arab country was shut down in
mourning.
In
Beirut, the press voiced anguish for the future, with one newspaper
warning that the country was on the brink of an abyss.
“The
pressing concern of the moment is how to prevent Lebanon from
tottering over the brink of an abyss,” the Daily Star said,
according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) round up.
As-Safir
said murdering the five-time premier
and billionaire businessman had “decapitated Lebanon” while L'Orient
Le-Jour said it “killed hope”.
In
Saudi Arabia, the Arab News predicted regional instability.
“Fingers
will be pointed in many directions... as such tragedies are occasions
for major international players to push their agendas,” it said.
“Sedition
hovers again over Lebanon,” feared the Al-Riyadh newspaper.
“Lebanon
at a crossroads after Hariri's assassination,” headlined the UAE's Al-Bayan
government newspaper.
“Where
is Lebanon going? And who benefits? These are questions strongly
raised after (Hariri's) assassination.
“The
danger of this explosion... is not just because it has targeted a
prominent Lebanese personality... but because it comes at a difficult
times for Lebanon and the entire Arab region,” it added.
Mourning
 |
|
Emotions of anger and fear in Lebanon. (Reuters)
|
Lebanon,
meanwhile, was mute Tuesday in mourning, with schools, shops, private
and public institutions closed as the Lebanese army went on alert at
the start of a three-day official mourning period, according to
Reuters.
Hariri’s
funeral is planned for Wednesday, February 16.
Hariri,
a Sunni Muslim billionaire who masterminded post-war reconstruction, was
killed Monday as his motorcade drove through Beirut's
seafront luxury hotel district.
At
least 14 other people were killed and 135 wounded in the blast, the
biggest in Lebanon since the end of the civil war.
He
had resigned as prime minister in October, apparently in anger over
Syria's insistence on extending the term of his political rival
President Emile Lahoud. He then joined opposition leaders in calling
for a Syrian troop pullout and an end to Syrian interference in
Lebanese affairs.
In
Hariri's home town of Sidon, 40 km (25 miles) south of Beirut,
protesters burned tires in main streets and flew black flags from
buildings.
Witnesses
told Reuters Lebanese troops later cleared away the tire barricades as
the protests subsided.
Protesters
hurled stones at an office of Syria's ruling Baath party in Beirut
late Monday and burned pictures of Syria’s Assad. Others had chanted
anti-Syrian slogans outside Hariri's palace in the Qoreitem
neighborhood.
The
highest profile assassination since the end of the civil war prompted
fears, never far from the minds of Lebanese, of a slide back into the
bloodshed that once tore their nation apart.
“It
was bad deja vu,” Nazha Merebi, a 36-year-old employment agent, told
Reuters.
“Today,
I just thought: oh my God, it's happening again. I grew up in the war.
I know what it's like and I don't want it to happen again.”
