By: Elias Bejjani
LCCC Chairman

September 20/07

Syria’s terrorist hand has struck again in Lebanon through its fundamentalist mercenaries spread across the territory of Lebanon. New victims fell today, as the car of MP Antoine Ghanem was targeted by an insidious and criminal bomb that killed him and eight other innocent bystanders, all of whom join the ranks of hundreds of thousands of new martyrs on this endless Calvary of the country of the Cedars.

It is no secret who is behind this series of assassinations that is targeting the Members of Parliament of the Majority Bloc. The Syrian devilish objective is no longer in doubt: By killing the free and elected representatives of the sovereign Lebanese people, Syria seeks with its henchmen in Lebanon to prevent the election of a new President of the Republic who is not an agent of Syria as it is the case in Lebanon since 1990.

Today’s assassination shows that the Syrian regime has entered a phase of ignorance, desperation, and confusion, after it – and the opposition operating under its aegis in Lebanon – failed to prevent the establishment of the International Tribunal that will look into the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, to fully control the Lebanese regime, and to topple the government of Prime Minister Saniora. The Lebanese people in its entirety and the Free World must at this time become cognizant of the fact that there are no options left for the Syrian regime but killing, murder and terrorism, which then mandates that they be dealt with on that basis, with decisiveness, deterrence and severity, without any compromises or concessions.

The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) vigorously denounces this new Syrian act of terrorism and fundamentalist criminality, and calls on the Security Council, the Free World, and all honorable Lebanese citizens in the homeland and in the Diaspora to:

1 – Not succumb to the terrorism and criminality of the Syrian-Iranian Axis and stand with strength and steadfastness in the face of the conspiracy it is executing against Lebanon; proceed forward in securing the circumstances and the means to elect a new President according to the texts and articles of the Constitution; and not allow a constitutional vacuum to occur and the chaos that might ensue it, regardless of the difficulties and the challenges.

2 – Place the MPs of the Lebanese Parliamentary Majority under the full, comprehensive and direct international protection, transfer them immediately out of Lebanon , and conduct the elections of a new President at the United Nations.

3 – Posthumously count the votes of the Majority Bloc MPs who have been martyred into the total number of votes of their bloc in the upcoming presidential elections, since the objective of their assassinations is to deny them the exercise of their constitutional rights, derail the free Lebanese decision-making, and ensure the failure of the Cedars Revolution.

Background/Desperate Enemies Continue to Assassinate Democracy in Lebanon
Wednesday, 19 September, 2007
Beirut - News Agencies/Anti Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem was murdered on Wednesday, just days away from the parliamentary elections to appoint Lebanon's next president. 9 others were killed, and over 50 wounded. A powerful blast that ripped through Ghanem's car in the east Beirut Sin el-Fil suburb, in what appears to be a bloody scheme to strip the Anti Syrian March 14 coalition of its parliamentary majority just six days before a scheduled session to elect a new president.
Antoine Ghanem was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former  premier Rafiq Hariri.
A 40-kilogram strong car bomb explosion shattered Ghanem's black Chevrolet Sedan as it drove in the plush suburb, killing him and eight other people, including his driver and an unidentified person who was sitting next to the slain MP on the back seat of the vehicle. Two of the deputy's bodyguards were among the dead, according to Ghanem's daughter, Mounia. Tongues of flame shot up from the wreckage of Ghanem's car and at least eight other vehicles as fire fighters combated the blaze and ambulances evacuated at least 47 wounded people to nearby hospitals. The powerful explosion, which echoed across the Lebanese capital, shattered glass windows in Sin el-Fil and the plush suburb of Horsh Tabet. The crime was committed three months after a similar car bomb explosion on June 14 which claimed the life of MP Walid Eido. Ghanem, 64, returned to Beirut from safe haven in Abu Dhabi two days ago.


**Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com