The massive explosion that ripped through the motorcade of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, murdering him and nine others and wounding a hundred more, was more than a bloody crime. It was a pre-emptive strike against Lebanese efforts to regain control over their destiny by securing an end to Syria’s long and suffocating military occupation.

Mr Hariri’s car was bullet-proofed and equipped with systems to thwart remotely-controlled explosives. This was a highly sophisticated operation that required meticulous planning. Although a hitherto unknown group calling itself Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon claimed responsibility yesterday, it could hardly have been executed without at least the connivance of Syria’s ubiquitous intelligence services. Whether or not Damascus is directly guilty of this murder, it happened on its baleful watch.

Mr Hariri, a self-made billionaire who returned from exile to head the Lebanese Government from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation last October, was both architect and master mason of Lebanon’s reconstruction after the terrible years of civil war. He had also become the most powerful spokesman for the anti-Syria camp in Lebanese politics.

The timing of his murder is significant, disturbingly so. Syrian control over Lebanon will be the biggest issue in the Lebanese elections due in April and May, and Damascus has made no secret of its determination to engineer victory for the pro-Syria lobby led by Mr Hariri’s rival, President Emile Lahoud. Mr Hariri’s departure from office last autumn was prompted by a bitter dispute over changes to the Lebanese Constitution, engineered by Syria, to give the President an extra three years in office. The Lahoud camp in turn accused Mr Hariri of instigating last September’s resolution in the Security Council, jointly sponsored by France and the United States, demanding that Syria withdraw its 14,000 troops, end its support for the Hezbollah militias and leave Lebanon alone.

The UN is reported to have served notice on Syria that if opponents of Syria’s role in Lebanon met with harm, it would be “a point of no return”. Mr Hariri was assassinated as he returned from taking part in a heated parliamentary debate on the law governing the forthcoming elections. The symbolism will have been lost on no one. The intent was to strike terror into any Lebanese politician thinking of campaigning on a “Syria out” ticket. If this was the message, Damascus reinforced it yesterday. Syria called the murder “a criminal, ugly act” yet pointedly condemned “those who are sowing sedition in Lebanon” and exhorted the Lebanese to “reject any internal sedition or outside interference”. The “interference” Syria objects to, Lebanese are aware, is the increasing international pressure on it to match Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon — a withdrawal that removed Syria ’s only excuse for being there.

France has demanded an international investigation. President Lahoud will be pressed by Syria to refuse. Yet he called the death of his enemy “a dark point in our national history” and he has a duty to let light in on darkness. Mr Hariri’s fellow citizens can best honour his considerable contribution to their national revival by resisting intimidation, and voting this spring for those brave enough to demand the full independence that has eluded Lebanon for too long.