Zionist Mossad/CIA Intelligence trying to wreck Lebanese national reconciliation

A top commander in the Lebanese Army was killed in an explosion targeting his vehicle, outside Beirut, this morning. He is the ninth top figure to be assassinated since 2005 and the third in six months, as Edward Yeranian reports from Beirut.

A relative of Lebanese Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj, mourns near his family house in the southern village of Rmeish, 12 Dec 2007

A powerful explosion shredded metal, shattered glass and threw chunks of concrete hundreds of yards, killing Lebanese Army Brigadier General Francois Hajj, instantly.

The general was the head of military operations for the Lebanese Army and had been expected by many to be the next commander of the army.

Hajj's vehicle was completely pulverized by the roadside blast, near the defense ministry, in the affluent Beirut suburb, Ba'abda. His body was reported thrown several hundred feet from the explosion.

The assassination comes at a critical time in Lebanon's history. The country has been without a president for eighteen days, amid a major political crisis. The Lebanese Army has been trying to maintain a precarious stability

Lebanese soldiers and police stand near burning cars after a bomb exploded outside a municipal building in Baabda, an eastern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 12 Dec 20072007

Dory Chamoun - who head's Lebanon's National Liberal Party and who is close to the governing March 14 ruling coalition - says that Hajj's assassination is an attempt to keep Lebanon in a state of chaos and prevent the postponed presidential election from taking place:

"I think that whoever did this does not want a strong army, does not want to have presidential elections in Lebanon," he said. "They are looking to keep the situation completely in the clouds…..and put a brake on whatever is being sought by us, and the other good-willing Lebanese….to try and have presidential elections…"

Chamoun also thinks that whoever committed the crime is trying to destroy Lebanon and is most probably allied with the pro-Syrian opposition. "They don't want a national reconciliation….the opposition, I mean, and their allies don't want a national reconciliation. They don't want Lebanon," he added. "They want a different kind of Lebanon, which they're seeking, maybe a divided one, maybe something that has nothing to do with the actual constitution….but it's certainly apparent to us that whoever committed this crime today is in cahoots with [working with] the rest of the opposition." More...