The massive bomb blast in Beirut that on Valentine's Day last year killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri has clearly left its mark on the Lebanese.
Many feel their country has been torn apart by the Hariri killing, or as some call it "the earthquake that shook Lebanon."
In the streets of Beirut, a city which Hariri was largely credited with rebuilding following the 1975-1990 civil war, the repercussions of the assassination are evident.
PHOTO: AP
Large posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose country was Lebanon's powerbroker and is now accused by many Lebanese of being behind the Hariri murder, were replaced with even larger ones of Hariri and his son, Saad.
The young Hariri and his bloc won the majority of votes in the last parliamentary elections in May and June as he seeks to continue his father's legacy.
Slogans daubed on walls and professing loyalty to the Syrian Baath regime have been covered with newer ones reading "freedom" and "independence" -- words hundreds of thousands of Lebanese chanted in the streets of the central district of Beirut to protest Hariri's death.
But a year after the killing, a year which has seen a wave of 15 bombings targeting anti-Syria activists and journalists, the most obvious change in the streets of Beirut is the public and loud criticism of the regime in Damascus.
"They [Syrians] are behind the assassination of Hariri, as well as the other blasts," Mona Yameen, a Christian woman in the neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh said. "They will do everything to try to destabilize the country, to find a reason to return to Lebanon and rule us like they did for 30 years."
Syria bowed to international pressure in April last year, withdrawing its troops from Lebanon and ending its military and intelligence presence for the first time since 1976.
Although a UN commission is investigating Hariri's murder, many Lebanese believe the Syrians are responsible and have ruled out other possible perpetrators.
"We do not have to wait for the investigation to end. I am sure the Syrians are behind the crime of the century," said Saeed Chuyab, a follower of anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. "There is no doubt about that and they will kill others."
A large number of Lebanese Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims want the neighboring Syrian regime to be changed, fearing that if it stays in power it will continue to work on destabilizing Lebanon's security and stability.
But in the mainly Shiite southern suburbs of the capital, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah group enjoys strong support, anti-Syrian sentiments are replaced by anger against the West.
"Some people want to put the blame on the Syrians and not wait until the investigation is over," Hezbollah follower Fatima Zeineddine said.
The "American-French alliance", according to Zeineddine, is eager to blame Syria for the murder of Hariri.
In an internet cafe inside the southern suburbs, a group of young Hezbollah followers described the current situation as "unstable," but ruled out the possibility of a new armed conflict.
"A new civil war is out of the question, although there are two camps in the country today," Mohammad Fakih, a Hezbollah follower explained.
One camp is supporting the "nationalistic Arab and Islamic countries," Fakih said , "and the other [anti-Syrian camp] want to invite American hegemony into the country."
But the new Lebanese generation, "whether they are Christian or Muslim, have learned from the old mistakes."
The clear-cut division prevailing in the country however has not prevented a small portion of Lebanese society to remain neutral without siding with the pro or anti-Syrian camps.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS