Another assassination in Lebanon

When I called my father to tell him that Pierre Gemayel had been assassinated, he said "The kid?" Pierre Amine Gemayel was the 34-year-old grandson of Pierre Gemayel, for whom he was named, and the son of Amin Gemayel, a former president of Lebanon. This prominent Christian family has been targeted before.

The choice of victim is also an act of historical blackmail, resurrecting as it does some key ghosts of the 1975-1990 Civil War: A 1980 car-bombing killed the 2-year-old daughter of his uncle, then-Lebanese Forces leader Bashir Gemayel; another blast killed Bashir himself after he became president-elect in 1982. The assailants' identities and immediate demands are unknown, but their message is clear: They will bring the country to - and possibly beyond - the brink of disaster to get their way. -The Daily Star

And the killing crystallized a sense of foreboding, as everyone waited for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's "surprise."

An impending assassination has been in the air for the past few weeks. We could all feel it -- it stood out from the general sense of dread hanging over Lebanon since the war. It was specific. We didn't know who or when, or whether the attempt would succeed -- but we knew it was coming. - Chercheuse d'Or

Most observers expect today's killing to further polarize the pro-Syria and anti-Syria bloc and shape the country's future.