Assassination of Rafic Hariri

On 14 February 2005 Rafic Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, was killed along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and his friend, and former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan. Hariri was buried, along with the bodyguards who died in the bombing, in a location near Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque. According to CBC News, The Wall Street Journal and Israeli daily Ha'aretz, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, along with an independent investigation carried out by Captain Wissam Hassan of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch, had found compelling evidence for the responsibility of Lebanese militia Hezbollah in the assassination. In quick succession to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon contacting Capt. Eid, in order to aid its investigation, Al-Hassan died in a car explosion in the Achrafieh district on 19 October 2012. The latter had been the heart of Lebanon's security and stability, and was regarded as a key figure in keeping the investigation ongoing.

Hariri and others in the anti-Syrian opposition had questioned the plan to extend the term of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, emboldened by popular anger and civic action now being called Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution". Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a newer recruit of the anti-Syrian opposition, said in the wake of the assassination that in August 2004 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened Hariri, saying "Lahoud represents me. ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will destroy Lebanon." He was quoted as saying "I heard him telling us those words." The United States, the EU and the UN have stopped short of any accusations, choosing instead to demand a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an open and international investigation of the assassination. Jumblatt's comments are not without controversy; the BBC describes him as "being seen by many as the country's political weathervane" - consistently changing allegiances to emerge on the winning side of the issues du jour through the turmoil of the 1975-90 civil war and its troubled aftermath. He was a supporter of Syria after the war but switched sides after the death of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in 2000. His account is quoted, but not confirmed, in the UN's FitzGerald Report. The report stops short of directly accusing Damascus or any other party, saying that only a further thorough international inquest can identify the culprit. Lara Marlow, an Irish journalist also said that Hariri told her that he received threats. The Lebanese government has agreed to this inquiry, though calling for the full participation, not supremacy, of its own agencies and the respect of Lebanese sovereignty.

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Wikipedia