In Beirut on June 9, people light candles at the spot where an anti-Syrian journalist was murdered June 2.

Such fears were buttressed by accusations from the United States on June 10 that Syria has not fully withdrawn its intelligence operatives and was perhaps even organizing political assassinations. Syria has denied the allegations, describing them as a smear campaign.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent back a team to verify that Syria completed its withdrawal April 26 and an envoy met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on June 12.

A spate of bombings of commercial and industrial centers in recent months that killed three people in opposition strongholds seemed to point to a campaign of intimidation. The opposition hopes to take over Parliament in the polls that end June 19 and sweep away the last vestiges of Syrian control.

The leader of pro-Syrian, anti-U.S. Hezbollah Shiite Muslim militants, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said June 10 the United States had an interest in "organized chaos."

The Japan Times Weekly: June 18, 2005
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