Lebanon on alert after Hariri killing

People carrying posters of assassinated former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri pass burning tyres during an anti-government protest in Sidon, the hometown of Hariri yesterday. Leaders of Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition accused the Syrian and Lebanese regimes of responsibility for Monday's assassination of Hariri in Beirut. PHOTO: AFP

Several fingers of blame were pointed at the regime in neighbouring Damascus, whose dominant role in Lebanon's affairs was opposed by Hariri, a billionaire businessman and five-time prime minister.

Soldiers were patrolling the streets as Lebanon's army command ordered a mobilisation of all its units to "safeguard stability," raising its state of alert to the maximum and suspending all leave.

The country also began a three-day mourning period for the 60-year-old Hariri who was killed along with at least nine others when a massive explosion ripped through his motorcade on Monday in an attack condemned across the globe.

Some media reports spoke of as many as 15 dead. About 100 people were also wounded in the blast that left a trail of burnt and bloodied bodies, blazing cars and rubble strewn across a busy seafront area in central Beirut in scenes reminiscent of the 1975-1990 war.

Hariri was "assassinated in a way that brings the ghosts of the not-so distant past howling into present-day reality", Lebanon's English-language Daily Star said.

"The pressing concern of the moment is how to prevent Lebanon from tottering over the brink of an abyss."