UPI’s William Reilly speculates that Sunday’s car bombing that killed six Spanish UN peacekeepers in Lebanon may harbinger future attacks on the UNIFIL. “The question that immediately arises is whether this attack signals a change in Lebanon’s unfortunate legacy of car bombs that have been used in a series of assassinations going back to late 2004, targeting politicians critical of Syria’s role in Lebanon. In other words, has the United Nations become a target?”
One of the car bombings to which Reilly refers was the February 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Harriri, who was often critical of Syrian influence in Lebanese politics. The assassination led to great public outcry, and the United Nations conducted an investigation into the circumstances of his death. During the investigation, all roads led to Damascus and the Security Council authorized a special tribunal to prosecute Harriri’s alleged assassins and conspirators.
The targets of the prosecution may very well be the same people who orchestrated Sunday’s deadly car bombing. If that is the case, blue helmets may find themselves increasingly in the terrorists’ cross hairs as the tribunal moves a head. Scary.