Sunday, March 20, 2005

Lebanese Political Divisions Deepen After Bombing

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition dismissed the president's call for talks on Saturday, deepening political divisions hours after a bomb raised fresh fears of a return to the country's violent past.

Investigators sifted through the rubble left by the blast, which wounded 11 people and gutted the ground and first floors of a residential block in a Christian suburb of eastern Beirut.

Opposition figures who met on Saturday held Syrian-backed security agencies responsible for the bombing and were unimpressed with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's first personal bid to break the deadlock over Syria's influence in its tiny neighbor.

"We warn Syria not to let these midgets carry out security actions in the country. The security agencies belong to it (Syria). There is no other explanation," Druze chieftain and key opposition leader Walid Jumblatt told reporters. "Lahoud today invites us to dialogue as though he is an independent when he is accused."

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