Another high-profile assassination in Lebanon, as a car bomb kills a top Lebanese general.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A car bomb attack killed one of Lebanon’s top generals and at least two other people Wednesday, the military and state media said, putting even more pressure on the country’s delicate political situation.

The target of the attack, Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj, a top Maronite Catholic in the command, was considered a leading candidate to succeed the head of the military, Gen. Michel Suleiman, if Suleiman is elected president.

Hajj, 55, also led a major military campaign against Islamic militants over the summer. …

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, speaking to AP Television News, accused the “Syrian-Iranian axis” of hitting the military, “the only body in Lebanon who can balance the power of Hezbollah and other militias in the country.”

But the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, which has good relations with the army, denounced the killing. It called Hajj’s death a “great national loss” and praised the military’s “great national role” in preserving security. …

Suspicion also fell on al-Qaida-inspired Sunni Muslim militants, whom the army crushed at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon in an operation led by Hajj, a battle that cost hundreds of lives. Hikmat Deeb, a leading member of Aoun’s opposition Free Patriotic Movement, said Hajj was “a hero of Nahr el-Bared,” suggesting the battle there was a factor in the assassination.