BEIRUT: A former Lebanese Christian warlord, Elie Hobeika, whose militia carried out the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Beirut in 1982, died instantly along with three bodyguards when a parked Mercedes packed with an estimated 22 pounds of explosive blew up beside his vehicle as he was leaving his home.

“My initial evaluation is that of course Israel doesn’t want witnesses against it in this historic case in Belgium which will certainly convict Ariel Sharon, the permanent and continued criminal,” Lebanese Minister of Displaced People Marwan Hamadeh told reporters during a visit to Amman.

Sharon was Israeli defence minister in 1982 and the architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in June that year. The 1983 Kahan Commission, an Israeli government inquiry into the Sabra and Shatila massacre, concluded that Sharon bore “personal responsibility” for the slaughter, in which at least 1,000 Palestinians perished.

The Belgian court announced on Wednesday that it would decide on March 6 whether the trial should proceed. If it goes ahead, which is looking increasingly likely, Sharon could have an international arrest warrant issued against him on charges of crimes against humanity.

Hobeika had said that he was willing to travel to Belgium and testify in court against the Israeli prime minister if asked. Last July, Hobeika broke his characteristic silence over the Sabra and Shatila massacre to plead innocent of any involvement, claiming to have documents and tapes that proved he was not in the vicinity of the camps at the time.

In a secret meeting in Beirut with two visiting Belgian senators on Tuesday, Hobeika reportedly informed them that he feared for his life.

One of the senators, Josy Dubie said in Brussels on Friday that when he asked Hobeika if he felt threatened, he replied: “I feel threatened. I have revelations to make.” “I then asked why he did not make these revelations now,” the senator said, “and he replied to me: “I am saving them for the trial.”

After Israel retreated from Beirut in 1983 and established a self-styled security zone in south Lebanon two years later, Hobeika switched sides, dumping the Israelis for Syria. The move pitted Hobeika against rival Christian warlords opposed to Syrian hegemony in Lebanon in the late 1980s.—Dawn/LATS Service (c) Christian Science Monitor.