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Since 2004, a series of bombings and assassinations have struck Lebanon, most of them occurring in and around the capital, Beirut. This wave of bombings began with the assassination attempt on Marwan Hamadeh, then peaked with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on 14 February 2005, which touched off the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of Syrian troops. After the massive protests sparked by Hariri's killing, several more bombings hit Lebanon.
These bombings and assassinations came after September 2004, when the Lebanese Parliament was forced to extend the term of pro-Syrian former president Emile Lahoud, a move that was unconstitutional. The MPs, journalists, and activists that opposed this term extension were then subject to a series of slander campaigns and eventually assassination attempts.
On 1 October 2004, a car bomb exploded next to the motorcade carrying Druze MP Marwan Hamadeh. Hamadeh was injured, but survived; his driver was killed. Hamadeh had been a critic of Syria and was a member of the opposition to then president Émile Lahoud.
A massive explosion on 14 February 2005, killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut, near the St. George Hotel. Also killed was the former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan, and 19 other people. About 220 others were wounded.
A group calling itself "The Nasra & Jihad Group in Greater Syria" claimed responsibility for the blast. The group had not been heard from before. A tape aired by Al Jazeera showed a bearded man, believed to be a Palestinian named Ahmad Abu Adas, claiming the attack. Adas' apartment was raided but he remains missing; however, it is now thought he was forced to admit to the plot and was killed by those who planned the assassination. [1] [2]
According to the United Nations report by Detlev Mehlis, [2] released 20 October 2005, the blast was the result of a truck bomb. A security camera captured a white Mitsubishi truck driving near Hariri's convoy moments before the blast; investigators determined this truck carried the explosives, estimated at 1,000 kg. Since Hariri's convoy had jamming devices meant to block remote control signals, the attack was carried out using a suicide bomber. The report cited a witness who said the bomber was an Iraqi who was led to believe his target was Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who had been in Beirut just days before.
The report concluded that top Syrian and Lebanese officials planned the assassination beginning in mid-2004.
A car bomb exploded in the New Jdeideh suburb of Beirut on 19 March 2005. The blast happened in a part-commercial, part-residential area, and wounded eleven people. Reports said that the driver had tried to park in front of a bingo hall, and was turned away and parked next to an apartment building instead. [3]
On 23 March, a bomb left in a leather bag exploded at the back entrance of the Kaslik shopping center in Jounieh. Three janitors, two Indians and a Pakistani, were killed, and two Sri Lankans and two Lebanese were injured. The roof of the mall collapsed. [4]
The car of Ali Ramez Tohme, a journalist and president of the Dar al-Haitham for Journalism, Printing and Press, was bombed early on 15 September in the area of Mazboud. Tohme escaped the assassination attempt. There was speculation that the attack was motivated by an article written by Tohme defending Rafiq Hariri or his book on Hariri.[ citation needed ]
On 26 March, a car loaded with explosives and parked between two factories exploded in the Sad el Bouchrieh area of Beirut, wounding six people. It caused a blaze which destroyed several workshops. [5]
On 1 April, a bomb ripped through the Rizk plaza in the Broummana resort village, 20 km (12 mi) east of Beirut. Twelve people were injured. [6]
On 7 May, a car bomb exploded between the Christian Sawt al Mahaba radio station and the Mar Yuhanna Church in Jounieh. The radio station was destroyed and the church suffered major damage. Twenty-two people were wounded. [7]
Anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated on 2 June when a bomb detonated in his car outside his home in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district, a largely Christian residential area. Kassir was a front-page columnist for the An Nahar newspaper, where he wrote columns criticizing the pro-Syrian government. [8]
George Hawi, former Lebanese Communist Party leader and a critic of Israel and Syria, died when his car exploded as he was driving through Beirut's Wata Musaitbi district on 21 June.
A car bomb wounded then Lebanese defense minister, and son-in-law of Emile Lahoud, Elias Murr, as his motorcade drove through Beirut's Christian suburb of Antelias on 12 July. Two people were killed and 12 others were injured. This attack was unique in the series of bombings in that Murr was considered a pro-Syrian figure. [9]
On 22 July, a bomb exploded in a car parked in front of a restaurant on Monot Street in Beirut, wounding twelve people. The bomb was estimated to be 50 lb. [10]
In the mostly Christian neighborhood of Zalka, on 22 August, a bomb placed between a shopping center and a hotel damaged shops and windows, wounding eight people. It consisted of 20 to 30 kg of TNT and was set on a timer. [11]
An explosion, believed caused by a car bomb, rocked the largely Christian area of Ashrafieh on 17 September. One person was killed and 23 injured. Two cars were blown up and buildings near the blast were severely damaged. [12]
Christian journalist and critic of Syria May Chidiac was seriously injured when a bomb exploded as she got into her car in Jounieh on 25 September. She lost her left leg and arm. Chidiac was a news anchor at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
A prominent anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker, Gebran Tueni, was killed by a car bomb on 12 December. He had returned from France only a day earlier, where he had been staying for fear of assassination. Two other people were killed – his driver and a passerby – when a car bomb exploded as his motorcade drove through Mkalles, an industrial suburb of Beirut. Another 30 people were wounded in the bombing, and at least 10 vehicles were destroyed. [13]
On 28 December 2005, Lebanese newspaper An Nahar reported it had received a statement signed by "The Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom in al-Sham," the group that claimed responsibility for the death of its former editor Gibran Tueni with a car bomb on 12 December. The statement said outgoing UNIIIC chairman Mehlis was lucky to escape death and threatened any new chairman with assassination if he too implicated Syria. [14]
Pierre Amine Gemayel, anti-Syrian MP, son of Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel, nephew of assassinated President Bashir Gemayyel, and Minister of Industry at the time was shot dead in Beirut on 21 November 2006.
Walid Eido, another anti-Syrian MP, was killed by a car bomb on 13 June 2007 in Beirut, along with eight others, including his eldest son Khaled Eido.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem and four others were killed in a car bomb attack in a Christian suburb of Beirut on 19 September 2007.
Brigadier General François al-Hajj from the village of Rmaich was killed in a car bomb attack in Baabda, along with three other people, on 12 December 2007. [15]
Capt. Wissam Eid who was a computer engineer and a senior terrorism investigator at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces was assassinated on 25 January 2008. At the time of assassination, Eid was also top Lebanese investigator into the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. [16] More specifically, he was analysing the telephone intercepts concerning the assassination when he was killed. [17]
On 13 August 2008, sixteen people, including seven Lebanese soldiers, were killed by a bomb targeting a civilian bus in Tripoli. [18]
A pro-Syrian Druze politician of the Lebanese Democratic Party, Saleh Aridi, was killed in a car bomb on 10 September 2008. [19]
On 29 September 2008, five people, including five soldiers, were killed, and 35 were injured, by a car bomb which destroyed a bus in Tripoli. [20]
Kamal Naji, also known as Kamal Medhat, was the deputy representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon and a former Fatah intelligence chief in the country. He was killed by a roadside bomb while visiting a refugee camp to calm recent violence. [21]
Wissam al-Hassan, was assassinated on 19 October 2012 in a car bomb that was located in Achrafieh district of Beirut. He was killed along with two citizens, while a hundred and twenty others were injured. Wissam al-Hassan was the head of the information branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces and one of the country's key security officials. His death comes a few months after he investigated ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha, who was charged with smuggling bombs from Syria with the help of Syrian Security Chief Ali Mamlouk, in order to launch a series of terrorist attacks in Lebanon.
On 9 July 2013, 53 people were injured, by a car bomb in Bir El Abed neighborhood Beirut. The blast erupted in a parking lot near the Islamic Cooperation Centre.
27 Dec 2013: Mohamad Chatah, a former Finance Minister of Lebanon was killed in a car bombing in Beirut. Seven others were also killed. [22]
On 23 August 2013, over 400 people were injured by two car bombs planted in front of the Mosques, 62 people were murdered, the bombs targeted the two Imams of the Mosques, the Former General Director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, Ashraf Rifi, Sheikh Bilal Baroudi in the second bombing, and Sheikh Salem Al Raf'i in the first bombing. The first car bomb exploded in the Bab- Al Tebbane area which targeted Al Taqwa mosque. The second car exploded 10 minutes later in Al- Mina which targeted Al Salam mosque, and General Rifi.
The Leader of the Alawite Community in Tripoli Ali Eid, was blamed for the bombing, due to the fact that the men who were driving the cars, were from Jabal Mohsen where most of the Alawites in Tripoli live, and that Ali Eid claims that all Jabal Mohsen and Alawites in Tripoli are protected by the Arab Democratic Party, which is led by Ali Eid and his son Ref'at Eid.
On 12 November, bombings took place in the Southern suburb of Beirut killing more than 43 people.
The history of Lebanon covers the history of the modern Republic of Lebanon and the earlier emergence of Greater Lebanon under the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, as well as the previous history of the region, covered by the modern state.
The Cedar Revolution or the Independence Intifada was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The popular movement was remarkable for its avoidance of violence, peaceful approach, and its total reliance on methods of civil resistance.
Bassel Fleihan was a Lebanese legislator and minister of economy and trade. He died from injuries sustained when a massive bomb exploded on the Beirut seafront as he passed by in former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri's motorcade on 14 February 2005.
Samir Kassir was a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist of An-Nahar and professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, who was an advocate of democracy and prominent opponent of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. He was assassinated in 2005 as part of a series of assassinations of anti-Syria Lebanese political figures such as Rafic Hariri and George Hawi.
The Democratic Left Movement is a nonsectarian and a democratic leftist political party. It was founded in September 2004 by left-wing and center-left intellectuals and activists some of whom had previously split from the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) while some were student activists from the "Independent Leftist Groups". The DLM affirms a European-style social democracy—but is open to all forms of leftism and encourages the development of a true secular state. The party operates under a decentralized framework that emphasizes diversity of thought for a progressive society in a liberal democratic environment. It participated in the 2005 Cedar Revolution, a wave of demonstrations against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and calls for correcting imbalanced relations with Syria.
Gebran Ghassan Tueni was a Lebanese politician and the former editor and publisher of daily paper An Nahar, established by his grandfather, also named Gebran Tueni, in 1933. He was assassinated in 2005 as part of a series of assassinations of Syria's critics in Lebanon.
Marwan Hamadeh is a Lebanese journalist and politician, who served in various capacities in different cabinets, including minister of education, minister of telecommunications, minister of economy and trade, minister of tourism, minister of health and minister for the displaced. He served as a member of the Lebanese parliament until his resignation, on 5 August 2020, after the explosions in Beirut claiming that the government was "ineffective" to handle the incident.
The 2007 Bikfaya bombings were two blasts on buses near Bikfaya, Lebanon which killed three people and injured 21 others. The bombings heightened tensions in the country following the Cedar Revolution, and on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
The 2007 Lebanon conflict began when fighting broke out between Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist militant organization, and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on May 20, 2007 in Nahr al-Bared, a UNRWA Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli.
Walid Eido was a member of the Future Movement, Lebanese political movement and a member of the Lebanese Parliament. He was also a member of the March 14 Coalition.
Antoine Ghanem was a Lebanese politician and an MP in the Lebanese Parliament. He was also a member of the Kataeb party and the March 14 Coalition. He was killed on 19 September 2007 in a car bomb explosion in the Sin el Fil suburb of Beirut. He was the eighth anti-Syrian figure assassinated since the assassination of Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005.
On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri was killed along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan.
Wissam Adnan al-Hassan was a brigadier general at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented Information Branch. Seen as a leading Sunni figure in Lebanon, he was also a key player in the opposition March 14 alliance without having a political position.
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.
From its inception, the Syrian Civil War has produced and inspired a great deal of strife and unrest in the nation of Lebanon. Prior to the Battle of Arsal in August 2014, the Lebanese Army has tried to keep out of it and the violence has been mostly between various factions within the country and overt Syrian involvement has been limited to airstrikes and occasional accidental incursions.
The following lists some remarkable events that happened in 2014 in Lebanon on a monthly basis.
The following lists events that happened in 2007 in Lebanon.
Wissam Eid was a senior intelligence official within the Internal Security Forces of Lebanon. He was in charge of the technical aspect of the investigations into the attacks that occurred since 2004, and had provided important information to the international investigation into the assassination of the former prime minister Rafic Hariri.