Bombs strike Lebanon buses on eve of rally

Bomb blasts killed three people on commuter buses and politicians blamed Syria, stirring fears of clashes between Hezbollah and government supporters at a massive rally today to mark the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

The explosions stoked fears of more turmoil as an already tense Lebanese capital braced for today’s commemoration of the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Government supporters plan to gather at Hariri’s gravesite in central Beirut - just yards away from ongoing opposition protests seeking to topple the government.

Lebanon has been hit by a string of bombings the past two years that many government supporters blame on Syria. Syria has denied any role in the attacks, including the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005.

Outrage over the assassination forced Damascus to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, ending a 29-year presence.

After yesterday’s blasts, the pro-government majority coalition in parliament said in a statement that it holds “the Syrian regime fully responsible for this despicable crime”.

It accused Syria of trying to “make Lebanon another Iraq by destroying its security and stability”.

The coalition also called on the Arab League to impose sanctions against members of the Syrian regime and demanded the deployment of UN troops along the Lebanon-Syria border “to halt the flow of arms to subversive groups directly linked to this regime” – a reference to pro-Syrian groups.

Lebanon’s defence minister, who has sided with the majority, last week rejected accusations that weapons were being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon.

Reflecting worries that Lebanon’s tensions could explode, the UN Security Council held an impromptu meeting yesterday evening to discuss the bombing.

The council condemned the attack as a “pernicious attempt to undermine the security and all the efforts aimed at preserving stability in the country,” according to a statement read by Slovak Ambassador Peter Burian, the council president.

The council also “called upon all parties in Lebanon and in the region to show restraint” and “underlined its readiness to continue to act in support of the legitimate and democratically elected government of Lebanon”.

Yesterday’s explosions ripped through two commuter buses travelling on a busy mountain road north-east of Beirut, killing three and injuring 20, police said.

Witnesses at Ein Alaq, a village up the mountains, a 30-minute drive north-east of Beirut, said a bomb first exploded in one bus, at about 9am As people and rescuers rushed to the scene, a second explosion, about 10 minutes later, tore through a second bus that had driven down behind it.

The buses were taking people to work, and witnesses said they were known to pass in 10-minute intervals, ferrying people from Christian mountain villages to the coastline and Beirut, stopping along the way for whoever hails them or wants to get off.

Pro-government groups said the attacks aimed to scare people away from today’s commemoration rally. They were adamant not to cancel the gathering.