Rafik Hariri is Dead

A car-bomb has just exploded in Beirut's hotel district and there are certain to be fatalities judging from footage of the blast. Few doubt that this is linked to growing international pressures to get the Syrians to withdraw from Lebanon. A few months ago, it was the attempted assassination of a former minister critical of the Syrian-imposed extension of the Lebanese president's mandate. The Syrians really don't want to leave.

Updates here.

The latest news is that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was the target of the blast, and has been killed. This comes after an article published in Al-Hayat yesterday suggesting that he any attack against him was a "red line" for the Syrians as far as the international community was concerned.