Schools, shops and businesses have closed down in Lebanon to mourn the politician and media publisher Gebran Tueni.
Mr Tueni was killed on Monday by a large car bomb in a Christian suburb of Beirut along with three other people.
It was the third political assassination since former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed in February.
'Gebran Tueni did not die, an-Nahar carries on,' said the frontpage banner headline of Beirut's leading Arabic-language an-Nahar newspaper, which he published.
48-year-old Tueni's criticism of Syria and its role in Lebanon often came in weekly editorials splashed across the newspaper's front page.
Many Lebanese politicians blamed Syria for his death but Damascus was quick to deny any involvement.
It has, however, strained the domestic political scene where Syria still has powerful allies.
'We are facing a real state of war ... aiming at preventing the emergence of a (sovereign) state in Lebanon,' Christian politician Samir Geagea told LBC television. 'It is a war to eliminate Lebanon's nationalist figures.'
Five Shi'ite Muslim ministers close to Syria suspended participation in the government after it voted last night to seek a UN investigation into a series of assassinations that have rocked Lebanon over the past 14 months.
A sixth Christian minister, who is loyal to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, also walked out of the session.
