Accusations fly over Beirut blast
Huge bomb kills Lebanese ex-PM
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 Blast apparently targets former PM Rafik Hariri. CNN's Brent Sadler reports. (February 14)
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BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Although not directly blaming them for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, members of the Lebanese opposition late Monday said they hold Syria and the pro-Damascus Lebanese government responsible for the death of the businessman who helped rebuild his country after it had been wracked by years of civil war.
The Lebanese government and Syria both denied any role in the killing.
Hariri and at least nine others were killed Monday when a massive bomb ripped through Beirut's chic seafront boulevard, leaving rubble, burning vehicles and twisted metal and glass strewn across the road for blocks.
The Lebanese government said it had a suspect in custody, a person it said was tied to a fundamentalist group.
The Lebanese government also held an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the day's events.
The opposition, meanwhile, met at Hariri's apartment and publicly accused the pro-Syrian government and Damascus of being behind the assassination in the sense that it failed to provide adequate security.
Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Bassem al-Sabaa, a member of parliament in the Hariri bloc, called on the "international community to take action and start an international investigation."
The statement also called on "the resignation of the present Lebanese government" and for the "Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon before the May parliamentary elections."
Druze opposition politician and former economy minister Marwan Hamada put the blame directly on Damascus.
"Syria is behind the assassination," he said.
The bombing occurred against a backdrop of increasing political tensions ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May -- with Lebanon's pro-Syrian government, which counts on its neighbor for security, coming under fire from a growing anti-Syrian opposition that says Lebanon can take care of its own security.
Lebanese Information Minister Elie Ferzli rejected claims that the government or Syria was behind the killing. "We consider these accusations irresponsible," he told CNN.
He said the bombing was aimed at disrupting stability in the region, and that Hariri understood the importance of a strategic relationship with Syria.
"We consider that the assassination of President Hariri is against stability. And we consider that stability is our concern. So, this action is against us," he said. "We are going to miss President Hariri."
Ferzli said security forces captured "some signals about a fundamentalistic person called Ahmad Abu Adas."
Asked if that meant they had a suspect in custody, Ferzli said, "Of course." He provided no further details.
Earlier in the day, a man who identified himself as Ahmad Abu Adas read a statement that aired on aired on Arab-language television network Al-Jazeera, claiming responsibility for the attack on behalf of a previously unknown group called Victory and Jihad.
He said the bombing was a "just punishment" for Hariri's close ties to the Saudi government.
In Syria, government spokesman Buthaina Shaaban said Syrian-Lebanese relations had "nothing to do with what happened today."
"Maybe this horrendous crime is a beginning to a new conspiracy that we need to alert the international community," Shaaban said.
"This is all part of the imperialistic conspiracy that the region has been suffering from for years."
Shaaban added, "We want a full investigation to show who is behind this assassination."
The Syrian government urged for unity, and members of the Lebanese government did the same.
"The best response to the assassination is to stay united," Lebanese Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh said.
But comments like those did not sit well with members of the Lebanese opposition.
Former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel -- a member of the opposition whose brother was killed in 1982 by a bomb planted by a pro-Syrian Christian -- said, "As far as the Syrian government calling on us to unify, a beautiful thing happened today when we all met the residence of the late prime minister.
"In our meeting, the extreme right and the extreme left met together and showed the true unity. We are not waiting for the Syrians to give us a lesson in unity in this crisis."
The bombing conjured up images from more than a decade ago, when car bombs were used by militias as a weapon of choice to plunge Lebanon into chaos.
The powerful bomb blast took place just before 1 p.m. (11 a.m. GMT), in front of the five-star hotels St. George and Phoenicia-Intercontinental in the Lebanese capital's famed Corniche district overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
The explosion left a 5-meter (15-foot) crater in the street and spread thick dust and ash over the debris.
Aides to Hariri said the bomb was believed to contain about 320 kilograms (700 pounds) of explosives.
"I haven't seen anything on this scale in Beirut since the dark days of the civil war," said CNN's Brent Sadler. (On the scene)
Officials at the American University of Beirut hospital said Hariri was dead on arrival at the hospital, adding that it had seen another nine bodies and more than 100 injured.
Bystanders and emergency officials rushed to aid the injured, including one man who climbed from a car window ablaze. A Hariri bodyguard on the scene sobbed, striking his head while he mourned.
Outside Hariri's home, a large group of mourners gathered, chanting "Syria out! Syria out!"
Hariri, 60, served as prime minister from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation in October after parliament amended the Lebanese constitution to extend pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term three years. Lahoud was to leave office in November. (Hariri profile)
A U.N. source told CNN that in recent days "strong messages" were sent to the Syrian government regarding Hariri's security.
According to the CIA, Syria maintains about 16,000 troops in Lebanon, based mainly east of Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley.
That troop deployment was approved by the Arab League under the Ta'if Accord that restructured the Lebanese government at the end of the 1975 to 1990 civil war.
After Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Lebanese opposition began to demand that Syria withdraw as well. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last October calling on Syria to withdraw.
Following Monday's bombing, French President Jacques Chirac issued a statement calling for "an international investigation ... without delay to determine the circumstances and responsibilities of this tragedy and to bring those responsible to justice."
In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan condemned the attack and described Hariri as a man who worked "tirelessly to rebuild a free, independent and prosperous Lebanon following its civil war and foreign occupation."
"This murder today is a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future free from violence and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation," he said, adding that he had no information about who was responsible for the bombing. (World reaction)
The 15-year civil war mostly pitted Lebanon's ruling conservative Christians against leftist Muslims, with Syria, Israel and Western international forces -- including U.S. Marines -- occasionally taking part. The Ta'if Accord revised the constitution to include more Muslim participation.
The Ta'if Accord reserved the presidency, chosen by the parliament, for a Christian Maronite. The prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim.
Hariri, the Maronite church, the Christian Qornet Shahwan bloc and Druze leader Walid Jumblat opposed the extension of Lahoud's term, but Syria supported it.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
