TEHRAN -- Abu Yasser Adel Aoun of Lebanon’s Amal movement on Wednesday condemned the assassination of Lebanese Brigadier General Francois Hajj and said Israel “had a hand” in his murder.

A car bomb attack killed Hajj and at least two other people Wednesday, putting even more pressure on the country’s delicate political situation, AP reported.
The target of the attack, a top Maronite Catholic in the command, was considered a leading candidate to succeed the head of the military, General Michel Suleiman, if the latter became president.
“It is likely that the Zionist regime had a hand in Hajj’s murder. This regime is not a supporter of resistance. It wants a weak Lebanese army which would implement UN Resolution 1701 in the country,” Aoun, the Amal representative in Iran, told the Mehr News Agency.
The blast is the first such attack against the Lebanese army, which has remained neutral in Lebanon’s yearlong 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.
“This assassination was a severe blow to the army, which is the guarantor of Lebanon’s unity,” Aoun said.
He added that Hajj was murdered to prevent Lebanese political parties from resolving their disputes, in line with the U.S. policy “to create managed chaos” in Lebanon.
The U.S. and Israel are seeking to keep the “illegitimate government of Fouad Siniora in power,” Aoun stated. “They do not want to see security and stability established in the country.”
He said that probably more than one group was behind the murder.
The right-wing forces, headed by Samir Farid Geagea were opposed to Hajj assuming the leadership of the army, he added.
Hajj was the commander in the Nahr el-Bared operation in northern Lebanon, which crushed Fath al-Islam terrorists, therefore, suspicion also falls on Fath al-Islam remnants, Aoun observed
Aoun praised the general’s great role in increasing security in the country.
“Hajj was a patriotic Lebanese… He spent his life defending his country and fighting with the Zionist enemy. He was against U.S. intervention in the country’s internal affairs.”
Lebanese security officials said three people were confirmed dead in the bombing -- the general, his driver, and his bodyguard. Emergency workers were searching in nearby bushes for a possible fourth body.
The failure to elect a president has embroiled Lebanon in its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. The country has been without a president since November 23 when Emile Lahoud left office and a deadlocked parliament failed to elect a successor.
Aoun said that the Hajj assassination might cause another delay in the presidential election.
Parliament is sharply divided between the supporters of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the opposition, led by Hezbollah.
The two sides are locked in a dispute over how to elect the army commander, Suleiman, as a compromise candidate to fill the vacant presidency. His election requires a constitutional amendment because currently a sitting army commander is barred from the post.
Lebanon has been rocked by a series of explosions since a massive truck bombing killed former Premier Rafik Hariri in central Beirut in 2005