A prominent anti-Syrian journalist was killed yesterday when a bomb destroyed his car as he started the engine in a Christian district of Beirut. The killing of columnist Samir Qaseer four days after the start of Lebanon’s staggered parliamentary elections shocked the country that was just coming to terms with the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Opposition figures were quick to point the finger at allies of Damascus and urged anti-Syrian leaders to close ranks.

Security sources said Qaseer of An-Nahar newspaper died instantly in the blast that destroyed his white Alfa Romeo car outside his home in the Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood. Qaseer is a front page columnist for Lebanon’s leading daily who has for years called for an end to Syria’s role in Lebanon. Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April under international and Lebanese popular pressure. Several cars were damaged in the blast that shattered windows of nearby buildings.

Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt blamed President Emile Lahoud, a close ally of Syria whose headquarters is in Baabda, just outside Beirut, and his security forces. “So long as the head of the spear, the head of the snake is in Baabda, assassinations will continue,” Jumblatt told Al Arabiya television.

The blast came four days after the start of the country’s parliamentary elections, staggered over four Sundays from May 29-June 19. “Every time we take a step forward, we see that there are those who want to mess up the security of the country,” Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters at the blast site.

“It is a painful event that we hope would not take us back, although it targets the two most vital elements in the country: security and freedom,” Mikati said. “We will not allow for these two elements to be shaken.”

Qaseer, also a member of a small opposition group called the Democratic Left, is the most prominent figure to be killed since the killing of Hariri and a top aide plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. His assassination in a huge bomb blast triggered large protests by Lebanese who accused Syria of killing Hariri. Damascus denies any role.

Five previous blasts have rocked Christian areas in and near Beirut since March, killing three people and wounding about 50. But those bombs appeared aimed at causing material damage rather than inflicting many casualties.

Jibran Tueni, An-Nahar’s director-general who won a seat in Beirut’s polls last Sunday, urged the opposition to regain its unity, shattered in recent weeks by election rifts. “These elections are meaningless, all differences over the elections are meaningless when we see journalists and freedom in Lebanon assassinated,” he told reporters at the site.

<B>Nadim LADKI</B>