- HAZMIYEH, Lebanon (AFP) - Former Christian warlord Elie Hobeika, accused
of directing massacres at Palestinian refugee camps in 1982, was killed
in a car bombing with three bodyguards in this Beirut suburb Thursday,
security sources said.
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- A Mercedes blew up as Hobeika's own car,
a Range Rover, passed by only a few hundred metres (yards) from his home
in the Christian eastern suburb of Hazmiyeh at 9:30 am (0730 GMT), they
said.
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- The blast was so violent that Hobeika's
body was thrown 50 metres from the vehicle, and the body of one bodyguard
ended up on a second floor balcony, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
-
- A four-storey building was also set on
fire and six of its residents were taken to hospital, one in serious condition,
said Military Prosecutor Nasri Lahoud at the scene. "Investigations
are still underway, but Israel is usually behind explosions in Lebanon,
and it could be linked to the trial of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon
in Brussels," Lahoud said.
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- An estimated 800 to 1,500 Palestinian
refugees died at the hands of Christian militiamen in the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps outside Beirut the day after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982,
when Sharon was defence minister.
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- Hobeika was intelligence chief of the
Lebanese Forces militia, which carried out the massacres.
-
- A subsequent Israeli inquiry pinned indirect
responsibility for the massacres on Sharon, while blaming Hobeika directly
for the killings.
-
- A suit was brought by Palestinian survivors
or relatives of victims of the massacre under a 1993 Belgian law that allows
prosecution in Belgian courts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and
genocide, regardless of where the crimes were committed.
-
- Legal wrangling is still underway over
whether the case against Sharon will be allowed to proceed.
-
- The killing of Hobeika, 46, comes only
two days after a secret meeting in Beirut between him and members of a
Belgian parliamentary committee to provide information on the massacres.
-
- In Brussels, Belgian Senator Josy Dubie
said Thursday Hobeika had said he felt "threatened" and that
he had "revelations" about the massacres.
-
- Hobeika "confirmed to me in the
most formal manner that he would come to Brussels" if Belgium goes
ahead with a trial against Sharon, Dubie said.
-
- Hobeika, known by the nomme de guerre
of "HK" during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, always denied involvement
in the massacres.
-
- Sultan Abul Aynain, the representative
in Lebanon of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, told AFP the "Mossad
(Israeli intelligence services) assassinated Hobeika to prevent him from
testifying against Sharon at the Belgian court.
-
- "Hobeika had announced that he was
ready to present documents in Brussels. It is normal that Israel assassinates
him before the start of the trial of Sharon, the butcher of Sabra and Shatila,"
said Abul Aynain.
-
- Countering those allegations, a high-ranking
Israeli official in Jersusalem accused Syria, the major power-broker in
Lebanon, of involvement in Hobeika's death.
-
- "To understand what happened ...
one should have interrogated General Ghazi Kanaan 20 years ago when he
was (military) coordinator of Syrian operations in Lebanon," the official
told AFP, asking not be identified.
-
- "Ghazi is responsible for many assassinations
in Lebanon; he notably bombed several US positions there, and he was intent
on preventing Hobeika from talking about this matter," he charged.
-
- The Israeli army entered Beirut on September
15, 1982, the day after the head of the Lebanese Forces, president-elect
Beshir Gemayel, was assassinated in a bomb attack on his party headquarters
blamed on pro-Syrian Lebanese.
-
- The massacres took place the following
day while Israeli troops surrounded the camps.
-
- Some 18 months later Hobeika switched
alliances from Israel to Syria.
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- In June 1985 he tried to oust Gemayel's
successor as militia chief, Samir Geagea, but the attempt failed.
-
- After the end of the civil war, he held
various ministerial posts, including those of electricity and labour, before
leaving the government to concentrate on business.
-
- He lost his parliamentary seat in the
last elections.
-
- Hobeika is survived by his wife and son,
who started receiving guests presenting condolences at their rooftop home
in Hazmiyeh, including top Lebanese personalities and Syrian officials.
___
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- Comment
-
- Ali Abunimah
http://www.abunimah.org
1-24-2
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- There can be very little doubt that the
killing of Elie Hobeika is the handiwork of Israel. Hobeika, a leader of
the "Lebanese Forces" militia which carried out the 1982 Sabra
and Shatila massacre under with the supervision, training and protection
of the Israeli occupation forces in Beirut to which it was allied, had
offered to testify against Ariel Sharon in a pending war crimes case in
a Belgian court. Israel is the only party that stands to gain from the
killing of Hobeika. The style of the killing has all the hallmarks of the
gangster methods beloved of Israel.
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