Who Was Wissam Eid?

In remarks following the explosion, Director-General of the Internal Security Forces Ashraf Riffi said that Captain Eid "possessed very sensitive files related to terrorist explosions that occurred in Lebanon." Captain Eid was apparently a key player into the investigations of the anti-Syrian figures assassinated in the past few years.

One report -- subsequently denied by Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa -- claimed that Eid was returning from a meeting with the International Investigation Committee. The IIC is investigating the recent assassinations, including the killing of former PM Rafiq Hariri in 2005. What does seem to be clear is that Eid had intimate knowledge of the investigation into Hariri's assassination.

Over at Beirut Spring, Mustapha lays blame for the attack at the feet of those trying to thwart the International Tribunal.

"The most insulting analysis one can come across is that Alqaeda is doing it. Those bearded idiots are definitely not the ones who read in today's newspaper that progress is being made in the international Tribunal, and then decided to eliminate an obscure key official in charge of sensitive data as a warning.

He was "in his 30s and had been working with the ISF for about eight years."