Go Figure..
reuters.com
Widely reviled in life, Lebanese militiaman Elie Hobeika on Saturday received a hero's funeral from Lebanon and Syria, who saw his death as proof of the treachery of their enemy Israel.
Hundreds of weeping mourners poured from Beirut's Mar Takla church where Hobeika's funeral was held, some tossing flowers on his coffin as it passed under a banner reading: "They feared your truth, and assassinated you."
Hobeika, whose pro-Israeli militia killed hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Beirut refugee camps after Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, died on Thursday when a remote-control bomb rocked his car as he left his home in the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon and its political master Syria pointed the finger at Israel, which they said killed Hobeika to keep him from helping a Belgian war crimes suit against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over his alleged role in the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
Hobeika had enemies across the political spectrum in Lebanon, many of them one-time allies in the Israeli-backed Lebanese Forces (LF) militia who considered him a traitor for turning on the Jewish state and shifting his loyalty to Syria.
The switch allowed Hobeika to rehabilitate himself after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, when he was elected to parliament. The various portfolios he held as cabinet minister entitled him to state honors at his funeral.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, represented at the funeral by a minister, granted Hobeika the Badge of the Cedars, a medal typically awarded for national service and personal achievement, as well as to former ministers and members of parliament. |
