Lebanon on brink as blast rocks Beirut

A BOMBING in a Christian suburb of east Beirut overshadowed Easter celebrations yesterday and raised fresh fears of a slide back into Lebanon’s violent past.

Lebanese security forces picked through rubble and twisted metal left by Saturday's blast, the third in eight days in the Christian heartland, where resentment against Syria runs high.

Patriarch Nasrallah Butrous Sfeir, spiritual leader of Lebanon's Maronite Christians and a long-time critic of Syria's grip on Lebanon, told worshippers at Easter Mass that the Lebanese must now choose between freedom and violence.