Lebanon opposition head fears for his life

BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 23 (UPI) -- A Lebanese opposition leader said he fears he might be next on a hit list that comprised slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other politicians.

Speaking in a television interview late Wednesday night, Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party and head of a multi-sectarian opposition alliance, called on his followers to exercise self-restraint and stay calm in case he was assassinated.

"Since we have entered into the unknown after the series of assassinations that rocked the country and if my fate is to be slain, I hope the citizens, especially in Mount Lebanon, will restrain themselves from any violent action and act calmly without strong reactions," Jumblatt said.

His comment came two days after the former secretary-general of the Lebanese Communist Party, George Hawi, was assassinated in a bomb explosion in his car in Beirut.

Earlier this month, an anti-Syria journalist, Samir Kassir, was also assassinated in the same way.

Jumblatt, who heads a large bloc in the newly elected Parliament, has been calling for the resignation of President Emile Lahoud, whom he accused of turning Lebanon into a police state.