ALC Statement on the Assassination of MP Antoine Ghanem

  

The American Lebanese Coalition condemns, in the strongest terms, the terrorist car bombing in a suburb of Beirut today, which claimed the lives of Lebanese Member of Parliament Mr. Antoine Ghanem and several other innocent Lebanese citizens.

The timing of this heinous crime, which comes on the eve of the upcoming presidential elections in Lebanon, is not coincidental and neither are its objectives a mystery to any objective observer.  The forces of evil that assassinated former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and all the subsequent martyrs of Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution are the obvious and only beneficiaries of this atrocious act of terrorism.  It is no secret that the Syrian regime is determined to reverse the progress of the Cedar Revolution, to prevent the election of a pro-sovereignty President and to fuel the counter-revolution by its cronies in Lebanon. But the Lebanese people will not be discouraged by terror nor will their resolve to restore Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty wane.

The lives of Mr. Ghanem and the other victims of today’s car bomb are new sacraments on the altar of democracy, dignity and independence.  Nevertheless, the torch that Mr. Ghanem carried shall remain alive through the majority of Lebanese people, who share his objectives and his dedication to Lebanon’s independence.

We offer our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims in particular and to the Lebanese people in general and we pray for the rapid recovery of the injured.