Bomb Kills Former Lebanese Finance Minister in Beirut - East Idaho News
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Bomb Kills Former Lebanese Finance Minister in Beirut

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GETTY 122713 BeirutBlast?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1388144089363Ratib Al Safadi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(BEIRUT) — Five people, including an advisor to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, were killed in a bombing in Beirut Friday, the BBC reports.

Dozens of others were also injured in the blast, which sent cars up in flames and damaged several buildings.

Hours before his reported death, former Lebanese Finance Minister Mohamad Chatah tweeted, “#Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs.”

It’s believed Chatah was the target of Friday’s explosion amid rising tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon.  

Hezbollah is a Shia-based faction that has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  The U.S. has designated it as a terrorist group.

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