Gebran Tueni Perishes in Massive Car Bomb Explosion Near Beirut

Gebran Tueni, a fiery critic of Syria, was assassinated in a car-bomb explosion in Mkalles, east of Beirut Monday. He was 48.
Tueni was An Nahar's general manager and Beirut legislator.

"God have mercy on Gebran and An-Nahar will remain the beacon for freedom," Druze leader Walid Jumblat told LBCI.

A parked car packed with an estimated 100 kilograms of TNT exploded at 9 am as Tueni's motorcade passed in the hilly industrial suburb of Mkalles, flinging his armor-plated vehicle and several other cars into a ravine. Tueni, his driver and a passer-by were killed. Another 30 people were wounded in the bombing, which shattered nearby store windows and started a fire that destroyed at least 10 vehicles

"This is a new terrorism message," Jumblat said of the killing, which follows a series of subsequent bombings that have targeted mainly anti-Syrian officials in the past year.

At the scene Tueni's wife was in tears and refused to answer when asked by a reporter whether her husband was hurt.

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, who is also Gebran's uncle, threatened to resign if the cabinet did not meet by Monday evening "to demand an inquiry under the supervision of the Security Council on all the crimes committed by Syria."

Hamadeh was also targeted on October 1, 2004 in a failed assassination attempt.

Speaker Berri described him as a "voice that shouted in the wilderness of a nation against oppression."

An outspoken critic of Syria's role in Lebanon, Tueni had just returned from France where he had been living for fear of assassination. His columns in An-Nahar often raised the ire of the Syrians.

After ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, Tueni played a prominent role in the leadership of the mass demonstrations that, combined with international pressure, succeeded in forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year hegemony. He was elected to parliament for the first time in the last elections in June.

Tueni's grandfather, Gebran Tueni, founded An-Nahar. His father Ghassan Tueni is considered the dean of the Lebanese press, having turned the newspaper into one of the leading media institutions in the Arab world.

In his final days, Tueni was campaigning for an international probe into recently discovered mass graves near the Defense Ministry in Yarze and Anjar which he blamed on the Syrians.

In his last editorial published Dec. 8, Tueni accused Syria of committing "crimes against humanity" in Lebanon. He charged the Syrian leadership with "trying to turn the clock back" and to intimidate the Lebanese.

He is survived by his wife, Siham Asseily and his four daughters Nayla, Michelle, from a previous marriage, and twin infants Gabriella and Nadia.

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Gebran Tueni's Striking Quotes

Following are comments by Syria's outspoken critic Gebran Tueni:

-"Don't think it is easy for anyone to be forced to live abroad, far from his country, colleagues, wife and children. But sometimes I think, maybe if I am far away I will spare them difficulties and problems. I would transfer the danger to somewhere else and I would not involve those I love." -- Undated, interview with LBC television station.

-"Yes, there may be other attacks and assassination attempts. One of us may pay the price. Anyway, hopefully it will be us, not anyone else." -- March 14, 2005.

-"You must realize that many Lebanese are not at ease either with Syrian policy in Lebanon and or with the presence of Syrian troops in our country." -- March 23, 2000, in an "open letter to Bashar Assad" published in An-Nahar, the first time a Lebanese journalist directly challenges the Syrian leader.

-"We are on the edge of a new era. It can be something completely positive for Lebanon, and it can be something completely dark for Lebanon. ... That's why we are really on a turning point where anything can happen." -- Comments to AP in May 2000 following the Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

-"The Lebanese security authorities and the remnants of the Syrian system in Lebanon, and directly the Syrian regime from top to bottom, is responsible for every crime and every drop of blood spilled." -- June 2, 2005, following the assassination of colleague Samir Kassir.

-"It is time for us to put an end to our fear for which we paid a very heavy price, to face all the lies of the Syrian security regime." -- Dec. 1, 2005, editorial in An-Nahar.

-"The Syrian security regime should know ... that despotic regimes and tyrants who committed massacres against humanity were pursued, prosecuted and collapsed." Dec. 8, 2005, editorial in An-Nahar.(AP)