In Lebanon, Senior Army General Dies in Bombing

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A car bomb attack killed one of Lebanon's top generals and his driver yesterday, putting even more pressure on the country's delicate political situation.

The target of the attack, Brigadier General Francois Hajj, a top Maronite Catholic in the command, was considered a leading candidate to succeed the head of the military, General Michel Suleiman, if General Suleiman is elected president. General Hajj, 55, also led a major military campaign against Islamic militants over the summer.

The blast was the first such attack against the Lebanese army, which has remained neutral in Lebanon's year-long political crisis and is widely seen as the only force that can hold the country together amid the bitter infighting between Parliament's rival factions.

The political divisions have paralyzed the government and prevented the election of a president, leaving the post empty since November 23 in a dangerous power vacuum.

Under Lebanon's sectarian division of political posts, the president must be a Maronite, like the army commander.

Syria denounced the attack, as it has past bombings. "We condemn this criminal act and every measure that jeopardizes Lebanon's security and stability," Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said. An unidentified Syrian official in the state news agency SANA blamed Israel for the killing.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said Syria's denunciation of the bombing was "positive" but added, "while denunciations are useful, they need to be backed up by actions."

The killing came at a "crucial time as Lebanon seeks to maintain a democratically elected government and select a new president," a National Security Council spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said. "President Bush will continue to stand with the Lebanese people as they counter those who attempt to undermine their security and freedom."