Lebanon bids farewell toslain general
Saturday, December 15, 2007
LEBANON mourned yesterday as it bid farewell to a senior army commander whose killing has further destabalised the country as it struggles to fill a presidential void.
Church bells tolled and hundreds of people applauded as the coffin of Brigadier General Francois el-Hajj was carried by army officers into Our Lady of Lebanon basilica in Harissa, overlooking the bay of Jounieh north of Beirut.
Mourners threw rose petals on the coffin, draped in the Lebanese flag, as leaders from both the Western-backed ruling majority and the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, stood in somber mood.
Dozens of soldiers and officers saluted, some weeping, as the coffin went by.
Hajj's murder, the first attack on the military in a series of assassinations that have rocked Lebanon in the last three years, has been widely linked to the crisis over the presidency and the army's recent battle against al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in a refugee camp.
The crisis is the worst since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
State prosecutor Saeed Mirza said that no one had been formally arrested in connection with Hajj's murder but that several people had been detained for questioning.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said the probe has led to "serious leads," but did not elaborate.
"This is a great tragic loss; it is not just about an officer but about a nation thrown into the wilderness," a visibly angry Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir told mourners during the funeral ceremony.
"Assassinations have continued without mercy for three years and today, the hand of treachery has reached the army and its brave leaders," added Sfeir, head of the influential Maronite church from which Lebanon's presidents are drawn and of which Hajj was a member.
Speaking in the name of the army command, Major General Shawqi al-Masri said: "Rest assured, O heroic martyr, that the military will not spare an effort in hunting down your assassins.
"Your blood was not spilled in vain; it will pave the road to Lebanon's unity," he said, urging politicians to end bickering that has been blocking the presidential election.
Earlier yesterday, Hajj's coffin was carried under heavy rain from the morgue to his family home in Beirut's eastern suburb of Baabda where residents threw rice and rose petals. A military honour guard lined the street as the coffin was carried by officers and an army band played a funeral march.
A burial ceremony is due to be held later in the day.AFP
Church bells tolled and hundreds of people applauded as the coffin of Brigadier General Francois el-Hajj was carried by army officers into Our Lady of Lebanon basilica in Harissa, overlooking the bay of Jounieh north of Beirut.
Mourners threw rose petals on the coffin, draped in the Lebanese flag, as leaders from both the Western-backed ruling majority and the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, stood in somber mood.
Dozens of soldiers and officers saluted, some weeping, as the coffin went by.
Hajj's murder, the first attack on the military in a series of assassinations that have rocked Lebanon in the last three years, has been widely linked to the crisis over the presidency and the army's recent battle against al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in a refugee camp.
The crisis is the worst since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
State prosecutor Saeed Mirza said that no one had been formally arrested in connection with Hajj's murder but that several people had been detained for questioning.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said the probe has led to "serious leads," but did not elaborate.
"This is a great tragic loss; it is not just about an officer but about a nation thrown into the wilderness," a visibly angry Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir told mourners during the funeral ceremony.
"Assassinations have continued without mercy for three years and today, the hand of treachery has reached the army and its brave leaders," added Sfeir, head of the influential Maronite church from which Lebanon's presidents are drawn and of which Hajj was a member.
Speaking in the name of the army command, Major General Shawqi al-Masri said: "Rest assured, O heroic martyr, that the military will not spare an effort in hunting down your assassins.
"Your blood was not spilled in vain; it will pave the road to Lebanon's unity," he said, urging politicians to end bickering that has been blocking the presidential election.
Earlier yesterday, Hajj's coffin was carried under heavy rain from the morgue to his family home in Beirut's eastern suburb of Baabda where residents threw rice and rose petals. A military honour guard lined the street as the coffin was carried by officers and an army band played a funeral march.
A burial ceremony is due to be held later in the day.AFP
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