Time magazine's Nicholas Blanford asks this week who set off the car bomb that killed Captain Wissam Eid, a Lebanese intelligence investigator, and three civilians in Beirut on Friday, January 25. The attack could have been Syrian sponsored, since Eid—like other Lebanese figures assassinated in recent years—was close to the current Western-backed, anti-Syrian government. Syria has historically played a controlling role in Lebanese affairs, although this has lessened since it withdrew troops in 2005.

Others, including Blanford, suggest that Sunni jihadists claiming allegiance to al-Qaeda are behind Eid's murder. However, the fact that Eid was the target of a previous assassination attempt, in February, 2006, casts doubt on the fact that he was the target of al-Qaeda inspired sentiment in Lebanon, which is a fairly recent phenomenon. One prominent Lebanese blogger, Mustapha Hamoui, argues that Eid was killed by those opposed to his investigation of the assassinations of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Pierre Gemayel and others.

Such explosions don’t happen because there is a political vacuum that needs to be filled and they don’t happen because the Seniora government is negligent with the Lebanese people’s security. They don’t happen because “Alqaeda” is attacking some vague American interests in Lebanon and they don’t happen because the Israelis want to weaken Hezbollah.

Just look at today’s target. Captain Wissam Eid was responsible for a security branch that analyzes sensitive data (phone calls..etc) that will be very useful evidence in the international tribunal. The tribunal that was set up to find and try the killers of Lebanese martyrs like Pierre Gemayel, Gebran Tueni, Samir Kassir and Rafic Hariri.

Not everyone agrees with Mustapha, far from it. To get a feel for the internal dialogue among Lebanese, take a look at the comments that follow his blog post. You'll find a wealth of views about the causes of political violence in Lebanon: there are those representing Lebanese anti- and pro-Syrian sentiments; those who believe that al-Qaeda is forceful and those who don't; those who believe that Fatah al-Islam is an al-Qaeda spin-off and those who think it is a Syrian creation; those who think Israel is to blame and those who think Israel is always blamed for Lebanese internal dissent; those who believe that militarized Palestinian movements are the root of internal violence, and those who think Hezballah is.

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