Lebanon started three days of mourning on Wednesday following the assassination of an anti-Syrian Christian cabinet minister that his allies blamed on Damascus. Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was assassinated as he drove in a Christian suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.
Gemayel's casket draped in a Phalange party flag was taken to his Bikfaya hometown in the mountains northeast of Beirut Wednesday morning, where hundreds of family, friends and supporters were gathered.
The murder is expected to intensify tensions between the anti-Syrian government and the pro-Damascus opposition led by Hizbullah.
Gemayel was among cabinet members who voted last week to tentatively approve the U.N. plans for to establish a special international court to try suspects over ex-Premier Rafic Hariri's murder. The U.N. Security Council late on Tuesday approved the creation of the international tribunal to try suspects not just in Hariri's assassination but also in 14 other attacks on Lebanese foes to Syria.
The Security Council also "unequivocally" denounced Gemayel's killing.
