The Guardian

Beirut/Washington, February 15:

Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, was assassinated in a bomb attack yesterday that killed at least 12 others, injured over a hundred and threatened to shatter the country’s fragile peace. The murder of the opponent of Syria’s influence in Lebanon raised the spectre of a return to violence 15 years after the civil war. His killing was condemned by world leaders and drew a sharp response from the White House, which directed pointed remarks towards Syria.

A group calling itself Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon claimed to have carried out the bombing, calling the attack the first of a campaign of “martyrdom attacks” aimed at “infidels, renegades and tyrants”. In a video aired on the al-Jazeera television network, a bearded man in a turban read a statement on behalf of the group, describing the killing as “just punishment” for Hariri’s close ties to the Saudi government. According to the Associated Press, Lebanese authorities identified the man as Ahmed Abu Adas, a Palestinian. Security officials said he was suspected of having links with Al Qaeda. The assassination threatened to raise tensions across the Middle East, where a Palestinian-Israeli truce last week had given hope of more peaceful times.