Bodyguard dies after police raid on Lebanon ex-minister

BEIRUT — A Lebanese police raid on the home of a former minister close to the powerful Hizbollah movement left a bodyguard dead on Sunday, as tensions with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri heightened. 

Politician Wiam Wahhab, an ally of the Syrian regime, had refused to attend an official questioning following a complaint over angry insults he made against Hariri and his parents.

Footage of the diatribe sparked protests from the premier's supporters at a time when Lebanon's squabbling leaders are deadlocked over the formation of a new government. 

Shots were fired during a raid by security officials on Wahhab's home in the Druze village of Jahliyeh on Saturday, with close associate Mohammed Abu Diab ending up wounded.

Abu Diab died of his injuries on Sunday and was buried in the mountain village. 

Wahhab, a former minister of the environment, blamed the authorities for his bodyguard's death but Lebanon's Internal Security Force said the fatal shots were fired by the politician's supporters.

Hariri was nominated for his third term as prime minister in May but the long-awaited formation of a government has been delayed by six months of wrangling. 

The premier-designate last month accused Shiite movement Hizbollah of impeding the formation of the Cabinet. 

Hizbollah has pushed for Sunni politicians allied to the Shiite movement but opposed to Hariri to be represented in the future Cabinet.

Hariri, a leading Sunni politician, has refused to give up a portfolio that would otherwise go to his own party.

Hizbollah is the only political party not to have disarmed after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and has backed the Syrian regime in the war-torn country next door.

Government formation is often a drawn-out process in Lebanon, where a complex governing system seeks to maintain a precarious balance of power between its various political and religious communities.