RIP Deputy Antoine Ghanem, Lebanese Member of Parliament

(NEWSROOM) - Today, the Newsroom mourns the death of His Excellency, Deputy Antoine Tawfik Ghanem, Esq., who was brutally murdered this morning along with five others, in an all too familiar scene. A massive explosion occurred in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood in the eastern suburbs of the Lebanese capital and television footage showed several burnt-out and twisted cars, black smoke from cars still ablaze, facades of buildings wrecked, shattered glass, and bodies on the streets due to the brutal and cowardly attack.

The United States has denounced the car bombing and vowed to help build democracy in Lebanon. "The United States strongly condemns this attack and we will continue to stand with those in Lebanon who are fighting for a free and democratic country," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

A former Professor at the Faculty of Business Administration at Lebanese University - Second Section, the country's newest martyr was elected as Maronite Deputy of Mount Lebanon's Third District in 2005 and to the Parliament in 2000. The staunchly anti-Syrian Parliamentarian, a member of the Lebanese Phalanges Kataeb Party, was born in Tahouitet Furn Al Shubbak, Ain Al Roumane in 1943, and at the time of his assassination was 64 years old.

MP Saad Hariri blamed the Antoine Ghanem killing on the "cowardly regime" of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Druze leader Walid Jublatt said Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is behind MP Antoine Ghanem's assassination, pledging that "we will not succumb to Bashar Assad's threat."

The Newsroom extends its deepest sympathy and sincerest condolences to the Deputy's wife Ms. Lola Neeme and his four children.