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Beirut bombing gives Syrian puppet president of Lebanon an excuse to leave Arab summit

AP via ABC News:

Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud on Saturday canceled plans to attend an Arab summit, citing "exceptional circumstances" after a car bomb rocked a Christian neighborhood in Beirut, injuring nine people in a blast that raised the specter of renewed sectarian violence.

The explosion in north Beirut, the Mediterranean coastal city that was ravaged by 15 years of civil war that ended in 1990, complicated efforts to restore stability in Lebanon. It came even as Syrian troops finally were withdrawing under global pressure, a month after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive bombing that killed 17 others.

The deepening political crisis also prompted Lahoud, a staunch supporter of Syria's 29-year involvement in Lebanon, to call for dialogue between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps. But the opposition quickly rejected his overtures, demanding an international inquiry into Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination and the ouster of top Lebanese security officials. Some said Lahoud must step down.

...

The motive for the attack was not known, but it played to concerns among some Lebanese that pro-Syrian elements might resort to violence to prove the need for a continued presence by Damascus forces.

Opposition leader Walid Jumblatt warned there could be more car bombs and assassination attempts but urged calm.

"Car bomb messages do not threaten our national unity," he said in a speech to supporters at his mountain palace of Mukhtara, southeast of Beirut.

It is hard to see how Lebanese could have confidence in Lahoud. The political timing of this bombing is just too convient. The Syrians have lost the ability to be subtle.