Apparent
targeted killing raises civil strife in Lebanon
By David Rudge
The discovery in Beirut yesterday of the decomposed body of a leading member of the
Christian Lebanese forces a day after the assassination of the son of Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine-General Command leader Ahmed Jibril has sent shock waves
through Lebanon. Although, the PFLP-GC is continuing
to blame Israel for the killing of Jihad Jibril, the second death, apparently also
politically-motivated, has raised the specter of the internecine fighting that swept the
country during a 15-year civil war.
The body of Ramzi Ayrani, an activist in the student branch
of the outlawed Christian Forces, the main Christian militia in the 1975-90 civil war, was
found in the trunk of his car.
Ayrani was abducted on May 7, but a message was sent to a
Beirut news agency on Monday saying he had been liquidated to avoid revealing the identity
of his kidnappers.
The discovery of his body prompted several leading Lebanese
newspapers to question what had happened to the state's image as guarantor of the
population's security.
Although there was some speculation in the press about the
"coincidence" of the finding of Ayrani's body and the assassination a few hours
beforehand of Jihad Jibril, the PFLP-GC adhered to its assertion that Israel was behind
Jibril's killing.
Jibril was the operations officer of the small but close-knit militant organization. He is
believed to have been behind the planning of the "Night of the Hang Gliders"
attack near Kiryat Shmona in 1987 in which six IDF soldiers were killed.
Some analysts maintain this incident was a contributing
factor in the outbreak of the first intifada because it aroused pride among the
Palestinians and made them feel they could take on the might of the IDF.
Jibril was also believed to have orchestrated the
infiltration by terrorists from Lebanon who opened fire at people in cars near Kibbutz
Matzuva in Western Galilee on March 12, killing six Israelis, as well as a number of
Katyusha rocket attacks on the North several weeks ago.
He was further suspected of involvement in the abortive
arms smuggling attempt to the Palestinians aboard the Santorini, and to have been
instrumental in helping mediate other shipments through his contacts with Hizbullah and
its mentors and backers in Iran.
Ahmed Jibril hinted in an interview yesterday with Qatar's Al-Jezeera news channel that
Jordanian and US intelligence may have helped Israel in his son's assassination.
The PFLP-GC has vowed to avenge the killing, indicating it
would retaliate against Israel, even though a previously unknown group calling itself the
Movement of Lebanese Nation-alists claimed responsibility for the car bombing.
Lebanese observers maintained that it is unlikely the
PFLP-GC will launch an overt strike from Lebanon, but they did not rule out the
possibility that it might try to carry out attacks against Israeli targets abroad.
In the meantime, the English-language Beirut newspaper
Daily Star quoted security sources as saying Jibril's assassination was perhaps the result
of a feud between rival Palestinian factions. This, it said, could pave the way for a bout
of intra-Palestinian fighting.
The killing of Jibril was the second major political
assassination in Lebanon since the end of the civil war. A car bomb claimed the lives of
former Christian warlord Elie Hobeika and his bodyguards in January.
News agencies contributed to this report. |
