Lebanon Loses Another Leader: General Hajj

The Lebanese military has been studiously neutral in their country's politics.

Early today, General Francois Hajj and several other Lebanese soldiers were killed by a 77-pound bomb. They were driving in a Christian neighborhood near Beirut.

• Lebanese politicos who don't approve of Syria say Syrian ordered the hit.
• Lebanese politicos who welcome Syria's influence in Lebanon say, "did not!"
• The Lebanese military say that the attack is a bad thing, and that they don't know who is responsible: yet.

So far, business as usual.

Getting assassinated is a chance people take, when they become important Lebanese leaders. General Francois Hajj is the ninth is a series of hits, starting with the truck bomb that killed Rafik Hariri in February of 2005. Even a United Nations investigation said that the Hariri hit may have involved Syrian officials.

It does seem that there's a correlation for Lebanese leaders, between wanting Syria out of Lebanon, and getting killed.

Finally, a few interesting details

• General Francois Hajj was a Maronite Catholic
• The bomb that killed him was a traditional car bomb: 77 pounds of explosives packed into a BMW, in this case