Lebanese bury general killed in bombing

A mournful farewell Friday to a top general killed in a car bombing prompted calls for Lebanon's deeply divided politicians to agree on a new president and end the country's worsening political crisis.

The assassination two days ago of Maj. Gen. Francois Hajj, the first military figure to be killed by a string of attacks since 2005, shook a Lebanese public accustomed to death but unprepared for an assault on the army — seen as the sole institution holding the country together.

Politicians and citizens from feuding factions seized on that emotion Friday, standing together in the rain to say goodbye to the military's second-highest ranking officer with a shower of tears and rose petals.

Army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman — seen as the likely consensus candidate for president — bade farewell to Hajj during the funeral with a sharp salute at his coffin, and the military called on Lebanon's Western-backed government and pro-Syrian opposition to end their political deadlock

"In unity, we will have the strength and we can achieve the impossible," said the army chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Shawki Masri, during Hajj's funeral.

Masri promised the military would "not rest until the murderers are apprehended and punished," a reassuring message to Lebanese citizens who saw Hajj's assassination as an assault on the country itself.

Hajj's slaying has heightened tensions at a time when Lebanon is embroiled in the latest chapter of its yearlong crisis — a dispute over electing a new president. The post has been empty since Emile Lahoud's term ended Nov. 23, with supporters of the Western-backed government and the opposition, led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, unable to agree on a successor.

Hundreds of grieving Lebanese stood in the downpour as Hajj's flag-draped casket was taken from his home in the Beirut suburb of Baabda to a Maronite Catholic basilica in Harisa.

Pro-government and opposition politicians, including a delegation from Hezbollah, attended Hajj's funeral Mass. The service was led by Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the influential Maronite church.

"Today, the hand of treachery has reached the army and its brave leaders," Sfeir told mourners.

A message from Pope Benedict XVI condemning "unjustified violence" and calling on Lebanese politicians to reconcile was read by a bishop.

"They killed Hajj because he was a clean leader, a poor and wise man with foresight," said Kafa Makhlouf, a 45-year-old Christian housewife.

Clutching her umbrella, Makhlouf, said Hajj's assassins sought to "split the army, the only guarantee of national peace and unity."

Tony Khoury, an 18-year-old Christian student, said he believed Hajj was killed because he was simply "a patriotic man who defended Lebanon."

An old woman threw rose petals in front of the procession as it passed through the port city of Jounieh. "Their bloody message will not scare us," read one banner along the route, referring to Hajj's still-unknown killers.

There was no claim of responsibility for Wednesday's bombing. Military investigators are focusing on the possibility Hajj was killed by Islamic militants because he led a three-month military campaign this summer against an al-Qaida-inspired group holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Investigators also are looking into the possibility he was killed in connection to the dispute over the presidency. Hajj was expected to succeed Suleiman at the military helm if he was elected president.

Some anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon accused Damascus of being behind the bombing to scuttle the presidential election but muted their rhetoric after Suleiman called on factions to avoid "politicizing" Hajj's death.

President Bush on Thursday condemned the assassination and took a tough tone against Syria, calling on it to stop interference in Lebanon — although he did not accuse Damascus in the slaying.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed to political leaders in Lebanon to elect a president who can unite the nation, saying a parliamentary vote scheduled for Monday was "the last chance."

"France urges all parties, at home and abroad, to do all they can for Lebanon to have a president of unity and consensus," Sarkozy said following a European Union summit in Brussels.

Hajj's coffin was driven to his hometown of Rmeish near Lebanon's southern border with Israel for burial in his family's cemetery. At a stop in the port city of Sidon, Hajj's son, Elie, greeted some 1,000 people there, shaking his fist in determination as tears filled his eyes.

Hajj's driver, Khairallah Hadwan, a Shiite who also died in the bombing, was buried in the eastern Bekaa Valley following a service filled with Islamic prayer under the yellow banner of Hezbollah.