The Second Murder

Among the last of King Abdullah's official visitors last week was a stocky, cigar-smoking man with a tarboosh tilted jauntily over a blunt, puckish face. He was Riad Bey el Solh, 57, one of the Middle East's shrewdest politicians and Lebanon's first premier when the little country became independent in 1943.

He had worked hard for Lebanese independence and was something of a national hero, but he also faced stiff political opposition. The fascist-like Syrian National Party wanted Lebanon reunited with Syria to become part of an Arab superstate, Greater Syria. El Solh stood for Lebanon's complete independence. Two years ago the Syrian National Party broke out in open revolt. The revolt was suppressed and Party Leader Anton Saadeh, who fled to Syria, was extradited, tried and shot. His followers swore they would get revenge on el Sohl.

Last week, el Solh visited Abdullah, talked with him for a few hours, then drove out to Amman airport in Abdullah's limousine. At a lonely stretch of the road a strange car ripped past, Tommy-gun fire burst from its windows. El Solh was shot through jaw and heart, instantly killed. The assassins: Mihkail el Dib, a Lebanese, and Mohammed Salah, a Palestinian Arab, both members of the Syrian National Party. One of the men was killed by police; the other reportedly took his own life.

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