Lebanon president urged to resign

BBC World Edition has the story.

It appears as though Syria may not be done with Lebanon yet. Another high-profile bombing rocks the war-weary nation. This time, a dissident reporter that made his residence among Christians is the victim:

Samir Qasir, an opposition figure and critic of Syrian influence in Beirut, was killed by a bomb placed in his car.

An opposition statement said Mr Lahoud must resign over Qasir's death, which comes amid closely-contested elections.

Mr Lahoud has condemned the attack and Syria has rejected opposition charges that it engineered Qasir's killing.

Don't look for that to happen soon.
With the opposition divided, Lahoud has time to secure his precarious position before crucial elections end on June 19. Syria won't let him go that easily. They need Lebanon so that Hezbolla can still confront Israel's northern border and cause as much disruption as it can. The last thing Syria wants is to find itself the sole secular dictatorship in the immediate area.

It's no accident that Mr. Qasid was assasinated near his home. Syrian intelligence is telling the Christians to stay out of it. Perfectly brilliant timing of them, considering that the Christians were splintering the already divided anti-syrian opposition. Still, I have my doubts about whether this will ultimately backfire on Damascus. It's possible islamofacists were making a statement for Hezbollah, which faced a grim future without Syria. Unless the opposition rallies around Qasid, expect to see Lahoud's government remain.