Lebanese opposition demands the expansion of international investigations of assassinations

The Lebanese opposition demanded the expansion of the international investigation of assassinations the UN Security Council is following to include the assassination of the former secretary general of the Lebanese communist party George Hawi by issuing a new decision to expand the scale of the for investigation to also include the assassinations that followed that of the former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

A statement issued by the "follow up committee of the opposition forces" considered following its meeting on Tuesday evening that the assassination of Hawi is the recent circle in the "terrorist series which desperately tries to prevent the Lebanese people from restoring back sovereignty and getting out from under the rule of intelligence bodies."

The opposition forces also renewed the calls to President Emil Lahoud to resign and held him responsible for the assassination of Hawi in his being the "head of the Syrian- Lebanese security system." In reaction, the general directorate for the republic's presidency issued a statement in which it deplored these accusations and described it as an attempt to undermine the position of the President.

Meantime, one official at the American embassy in Beirut said that Lebanon asked the help of the US in the investigation and that a team from the FBI is on the way to Lebanon.

The Lebanese security forces, on the other hand, arrested several Syrians working in Lebanon, following the assassination of Hawi to question them in the incident.