BEIRUT - A Syrian shopkeeper was stabbed to death in Beirut on Saturday, Lebanese security forces said, amid rising anti-Syrian violence in Lebanon since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"Youssef Mussa Mussa, 43, died after being stabbed 14 times over his whole body," the security forces said. The motive for the killing was not known.
The incident took place in the Sunni working class area of Tariq Jdide as Mussa opened his vegetable stand for the day.
On Wednesday, a Syrian worker was stabbed to death in Tyre in southern Lebanon and his attacker, another Syrian, was arrested Saturday in Saida, also in the south.
Since Hariri's killing in Beirut on February 14, blamed by the opposition on Syria, which has denied the charge, a number of Syrian workers in Lebanon have been beaten, robbed or had their tents pillaged.
On Saturday, five labourers had their tents set ablaze in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, police said. No deaths were reported.
The occupants of the tents, who work in an adjacent neighbourhood, were able to recover a few belongings and find shelter elsewhere, police said.
Lebanese opposition leaders, including Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, have urged Lebanese citizens to respect the Syrian workers and nationals.
It is not known exactly how many Syrian workers are in Lebanon, but their number is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
A large number of them left the country after the Hariri killing, paralyzing the farming and building sectors.
03/12/2005 20:10 GMT