Lebanese security forces, journalists and onlookers gather around the damaged car of Lebanon’s former Communist Party chief George Hawi following his assassination near his home in a Beirut residential neighbourhood 21 June 2005 (AFP)
Beirut, Lebanon-The son of Lebanon”s slain former prime minister, whose anti-Syrian slate swept to victory in the final round of Lebanon”s parliamentary elections, reached out Monday to his defeated opponents with promises that he would not "close the door on anyone."
The anti-Syrian opposition led by Saad Hariri captured control of Lebanon”s parliament Monday in the fourth and final round of the country”s elections, breaking Syria”s long domination of the country.
Interior Minister Hassan Sabei declared anti-Syrian opposition candidates had won all 28 seats in north Lebanon in Sunday”s polling.
"The north has decided the character of the new parliament and given the absolute majority to the opposition," Hariri said.
Anticipating victory, men, women and children waved flags and danced in the streets of Tripoli, the provincial capital of the north, earlier Monday. In Beirut, the national capital, opposition supporters drove through the city, cheering and honking in celebration.
Asked whether he would seek the premiership, 35-year-old Hariri said he would consult his allies. Hariri, the son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, also said he would negotiate with other parliamentary blocs to broaden his alliance.
Extended a hand to his defeated opponents, Hariri said: "We have to maintain dialogue with everybody. We will not close the door on anyone."
Elsewhere , An anti-Syrian politician was killed on Tuesday when a bomb ripped through his car in Beirut, two days after parliamentary elections ended with victory to an alliance that opposed Damascus”s role in Lebanon.
Witnesses and security sources said George Hawi, former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in the Wata Musaitbi neighborhood of Beirut.
Witness Rami Abu Dargham told Reuters: "The car kept going and we then saw the driver screaming and he jumped out of the window. We rushed to the car and saw Hawi in the passenger seat with his guts out."
The bomb was apparently placed under the passenger seat of Hawi”s Mercedes car and was detonated by remote-control, security sources said. The driver apparently escaped serious injuries.
It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 when a similar explosion destroyed his car.
Hawi”s killing came two days after the end of Lebanon”s parliamentary elections which were won by an anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, son of a former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri who was killed in a truck bomb last February.
"We are stunned," Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters. "With every achievement by the Lebanese state, we see that there are those who want to target security and send messages of this sort."
Lebanese anti-Syrian opposition leader gestures during a press conference in his palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 20 June, 2005, (AP)
Lebanese supporters of slain former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri raise posters of him and his son Saad al-Hariri during a celebration in northern Lebanon June 19, 2005 (REUTERS)