Assassination of Wissam al-Hassan

On 19 October 2012, Wissam al-Hassan, a brigadier general of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented information branch, died along with several others killed by a car bomb in the Achrafieh district of Beirut. The killing of a senior figure closely linked with the anti-Assad camp in Lebanon led to immediate speculation that Syria, or its allies, were behind the attack in Beirut. Al-Hassan had also led the investigation that implicated Syria and its ally Hezbollah in the killing of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

According to a report in Der Spiegel, Hezbollah might have had a hand in the attack on al-Hassan since his cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal had made him a sworn enemy of the Party. The FBI noted similarities with the Hariri assassination, between the explosives used, planning and execution of the attack, and that they point to the same group of perpetrators.

According to Lebanon's National News Agency, a total of eight died and 110 were injured in the explosion, making it the deadliest bombing in Beirut since 2008.

In the summer of 2011, sporadic fighting between supporters and opponents of the government of neighboring Syria began to occur in Lebanon as fallout from a civil war in Syria. The conflict has resulted in violent unrest and kidnappings of foreign citizens across Lebanon.

The target of the attack is believed to have been al-Hassan, the head of the intelligence branch of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF), a key player in the opposition March 14 alliance and one of Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslims. During the summer of 2012, al-Hassan lead an investigation that uncovered what the Lebanese government alleged to be plots planned by the Syrian government to interfere with the conflict in Lebanon.