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This is a list of assassinations in Lebanon and nearby countries.
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This is a list of assassinations in Lebanon and nearby countries.
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1152 | Raymond II of Tripoli, count of Tripoli | Tripoli | Killed by Hashshashin | ||
| April 28, 1192 | Conrad of Montferrat | Tyre | Killed by Hashshashin | ||
| August 17, 1270 | Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre | Killed by Hashshashin | |||
| 1528 | Muhammad Agha Shu'ayb, Tripoli ruler | Tripoli | Assassinated along with his son in the Taynal Mosque of Tripoli. | ||
| August 6, 1921 | Fouad Jumblatt, Druze leader | Shakeeb Wahhab | |||
| October 31, 1950 | Sami al-Hinnawi, Syrian head of state | Beirut | Shooting | Hersho al-Barazi | Killed by a cousin of former Prime Minister Muhsin al-Barazi, who al-Hinnawi had executed following a coup. |
| July 17, 1951 | Riad Al Solh, first Prime minister of Lebanon | Amman | Shooting | SSNP | In revenge for the execution of Antoun Saadeh |
| May 8, 1958 | Nasib Al Matn, Nasserist journalist | Beirut | Shooting | Pro-Chamoun Lebanese | Al Matni was assassinated in his office in West Beirut in the early hours on 8 May 1958. [1] |
| September 1958 | Fouad Haddad, Journalist at the Kataeb Party's Al Amal newspaper | Beirut | Abduction | Kidnapped in Beirut and killed in September 1958. [2] | |
| October 13, 1958 | Waheed el Solh, aide to Prime Minister Sami Solh | Beirut | Sniperfire | Assassinated during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis | |
| July 12, 1959 | Naim Moghabghab, Member of Parliament for the National Liberal Party | Shooting | Progressive Socialist Party | Killed when opponents attacked him in his car | |
| May 16, 1966 | Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of Al-Hayat and The Daily Star newspapers | Beirut | Shooting | Adnan Chaker Sultani (INM) | Shot at his office in Beirut. [2] |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 4, 1972 | Muhammad Umran, former Minister of Defense of Syria | Tripoli | Shooting | Shot outside his home in Tripoli | |
| July 8, 1972 | Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer & spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | Beirut | Bomb | Mossad | Killed by a 3-kg bomb attached to his car in Beirut along with his 17-year old niece. |
| April 9, 1973 | Kamal Adwan, senior Fatah officer | Beirut | Raid | Israel Defence Force | See IDF seaborne attack |
| Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Palestine Liberation Organization executive | Wife and elderly neighbor also killed in response to the Munich massacre | ||||
| Kamal Nasser, Palestinian poet | See 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon | ||||
| March 6, 1975 | Maarouf Saad, Member of Parliament for Sidon | Sidon | Shooting | Lebanese Army (Alleged) | Shot during a fisherman's protest and later died in a Beirut hospital |
| July 15, 1975 | Amine Abouchahine, senior member of the Progressive Socialist Party | Bmariam | Shooting | Kataeb Regulatory Forces | Shot during a family event at his home and later died on way to a Beirut hospital. |
| May 25, 1976 | Linda Jumblatt, sister of Kamal Jumblatt | Beirut | Shooting | National Liberal Party | She was killed in her apartment in Beirut's eastern suburbs. Her two daughters were also injured. [3] |
| June 16, 1976 | Francis E. Meloy, Jr., United States Ambassador to Lebanon, and Robert O. Waring, US Economic Counselor to Lebanon | Beirut | Abduction | PFLP | Abducted by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; the bodies were found with multiple bullet wounds on a garbage dump near the beach in Ramlet al-Baida. |
| March 16, 1977 | Kamal Jumblatt, Druze leader | Baakleen | Shooting | Ibrahim Huwayji, Syrian Intelligence Officer | Kamal Jumblatt was gunned down in his car near the village of Baakline in the Chouf mountains by unidentified gunmen. [4] [5] [6] His bodyguard and driver also died in the attack. [4] |
| June 7, 1978 [7] | Joud el Bayeh, Kataeb Party leader in Zgharta and Marada Movement affiliate | Zgharta | Marada Movement | His assassination is believed to have triggered the Ehden massacre. [7] | |
| June 13, 1978 | Tony Frangieh, Christian leader | Ehden | Mass killing | Phalangists | Killed by Phalangists led by Elie Hobeika during the Ehden massacre |
| January 22, 1979 | Ali Hassan Salameh, Fatah security chief and CIA asset | Beirut | Car bomb | Mossad | Killed in a car bomb along with eight other people in Beirut |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 6, 1980 | Salim Lawzi, journalist | Aramoun | Shooting | Syrian intelligence agents | He was kidnapped by gunmen on the Airport Road on 25 February 1980. His heavily bruised tortured body was found nine days later on 4 March 1980 in Aramoun, on the outskirts of Beirut. [8] |
| May 2, 1980 | Hassan al-Shirazi, Iraqi-Iranian Shia scholar | Borj el Brajneh | Shooting | Ba'ath officers | Thirteen bullets hit al-Shirazi, mostly in his head, killing him. [9] |
| July 23, 1980 | Riad Taha, journalist and president of the Lebanese Publishers Association. | Beirut | Shooting | Unknown | Although there have been rumors that Syrian intelligence killed him, there is also another report, stating that Taha was killed due to the feud between his family and another Shiite family. [10] |
| July 28, 1980 | Musa Shuaib, poet and member of Ba'ath Party | Beirut | Car bomb | Unknown | Killed by a car bomb at Beirut International Airport along with three others |
| August 16, 1981 | Elias Hannush, NLP commander | Beirut | Shooting | Leftist gunmen | His nine-year-old daughter, his seven-year-old son, and two bodyguards were also gunned down. [11] |
| September 4, 1981 | Louis Delamare, French ambassador | Beirut | Shooting | Red Knights Militia | Was shot at a checkpoint in Beirut. |
| March 16, 1982 | Bachir Kayrouz, former MP [12] | Hazmieh | Shooting | Unknown | Was killed in Hazmieh |
| April 1982 | Sheikh Ahmad Assaf, Sunni cleric [13] | Beirut | Shooting | Leftist gunmen | Gunned down by three assailants while driving home from a mosque in West Beirut. |
| September 14, 1982 | Bachir Gemayel, President-elect of Lebanon | Beirut | Bombing | Habib Tanious Shartouni and Nabil Alam | Bomb explosion in the Kataeb's Beirut headquarters. [14] |
| September 29, 1982 | Saad Sayel, senior PLO commander | Rayak | Shooting | Abu Nidal Group | He was taken by ambulance to the Mowasat hospital in Damascus, where he died from severe bleeding. |
| April 18, 1983 | Robert Ames, CIA chief | Beirut | Suicide van | Hezbollah | A suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by. The victims were mostly embassy and CIA staff members. |
| Kenneth Haas, Station Chief | |||||
| James Lewis, CIA officer | |||||
| Janet Lee Stevens, American journalist | |||||
| William R. McIntyre, deputy director of the United States Agency for International Development | |||||
| December 1, 1983 | Sheik Halim Takieddin, Druze leader [15] | Beirut | Shooting | Unknown | Was found dead at his home in West Beirut. |
| January 19, 1984 | Malcolm H. Kerr, President of the AUB | Beirut | Shooting | Islamic Jihad Organisation | Shot by two gunmen outside his office |
| February 14, 1984 | Ghaith Khoury, Kataeb leader in Jbeil | Okaibe | Shooting | Georges Tannous Chidiac [16] | His wife was also killed due to her injuries |
| March 1984 | Peter Kilburn | Abduction | Islamic Jihad Organization | ||
| February 16, 1984 | Ragheb Harb, Shia leader in south Lebanon | Jibchit | Shooting | Danny Abdallah and Hussein Abbas | Shot outside his home by Lebanese criminals, allegedly at the direction of Mossad. |
| December 28, 1984 | Sheikh Khalil al Tawil, Druze leader | Baakleen | Shooting | Unknown | Was killed by four gunmen [17] |
| June 3, 1985 | William Francis Buckley, officer at the U.S. embassy | Execution | Islamic Jihad Organization | Abducted in Beirut on March 16, 1984. Executed in 1985. | |
| February 9, 1986 | Khalil Akkawi, leader of the Islamic Unification Movement | Tripoli | Shooting | Syria | Syrian Military Intelligence killed Tawhid leader Khalil Akkawi because he refused to fight the Lebanese Forces. [18] Three supporters of Akkawi's Islamic Tawheed, or Islamic Unification Movement, were slain in gunfights with Syrian troopers after his burial. [19] |
| May 18, 1987 | Mahdi Amel, Marxist intellectual and militant | Beirut | Shooting | Pro-Iranian Shia Criminals | Amel was walking on Algeria street when armed men shot him. [20] |
| June 1, 1987 | Rashid Karami, Prime Minister of Lebanon | Beirut | Helicopter bombing | Syria (alleged) | Killed by bomb aboard helicopter. [14] |
| August 2, 1987 | Mohammad Choucair, advisor to President Amine Gemayel | Beirut | Shooting | Syria | Killed in his West Beirut apartment. |
| February 9, 1989 | Anwar al-Fatayri, Progressive Socialist Party official | Deri el Qamar | Shooting | Officer in the Lebanese army | Shot at a public event |
| May 1, 1989 | Sobhi Saleh, head of the Sunni Islamic Higher Council. | Beirut | Shooting | Unknown | Was killed by masked men in motorcycles near a mosque in West Beirut. [21] |
| February 17, 1987 | Husayn Muruwwa, Marxist philosopher | Beirut | Shooting | Pro-Iranian Shia Criminals | Shot in his head by gunmen at his house |
| September 24, 1987 | André Mass, director of USJ in Saida | Sidon | Shooting | Unknown | Three men stormed into his office and killed him. [22] |
| May 16, 1989 | Hassan Khaled, leader of Sunni community | Beirut | Car bomb | Syria | Khaled and 21 others were killed. [23] |
| September 21, 1989 | Nazem Qadri, Member of Parliament from Beqaa region | Beirut | Shooting | Syria | Driver also killed |
| November 22, 1989 | René Moawad, President of Lebanon | Beirut | Car bomb | Unknown | Killed along with 23 others when a 250-kg car bomb exploded while he was being driven through West Beirut |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 19, 1990 | Elias Zayek, Kataeb commander | Byblos | Shooting | Lebanese Forces | Was shot and killed in Jbeil |
| October 21, 1990 | Dany Chamoun, son of former President Camille Chamoun | Beirut | Shooting | Syria [24] | Killed along with his wife and 2 sons. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea was convicted but later cleared of the murder. |
| December 1991 | Mustafa Jeha, writer and Al-Amal contributor [25] | Beirut | Shooting | Hezbollah | He was a critic of Hezbollah and Iran |
| February 16, 1992 | Abbas al-Musawi, Secretary-General of Hezbollah | Nabatieh | Airstrike | IDF | Killed in an airstrike which also killed his wife, son and four others |
| August 6, 1993 | Henri Philippe Pharaoun, former Foreign Minister | Beirut | Stabbing | Former bodyguard | Was murdered in his bedroom at the Carlton Hotel [26] |
| January 29, 1994 | Naib Ma'ayta, First Secretary of the Jordanian Embassy [27] | Beirut | Shooting | Fatah | Shot in head and chest by lone gunman outside his Beirut apartment [28] |
| April 13, 1994 | Talib Suhayl al-Tamimi, leading member of the Council for a Free Iraq. | Beirut | Shooting | Iraqi intelligence | Four diplomats from the Iraqi embassy detained. One died in prison, the other three sent back to Iraq in 1996 [29] |
| August 31, 1995 | Nizar al-Halabi, leader of the Al-Ahbash Sufi movement [30] | Beirut | Shooting | members of Osbat al-Ansar | Killed instantly when gunmen in a white Mercedes opened fire on his car in West Beirut |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 30, 2000 | Aql Hashem, Colonel in the South Lebanon Army | Debel | Bombing | Hezbollah | Killed by a remote-controlled bomb in his farm outside Debel. The planning and execution of the operation was filmed and broadcast by Hizbollah's own TV-station Al-Manar. |
| January 24, 2002 | Elie Hobeika, militia leader | Hazmiyeh | Car bomb | Disputed | Killed by a car bomb near his house in the Beirut suburb of Hazmiyeh. The explosion killed three other people, including his two bodyguards, and wounded six more people. [31] |
| May 7, 2002 | Ramzi Irani, Lebanese Forces student representative at Lebanese University | Beirut | Execution | Cold case | Was walking down Hamra Street on his way to celebrate the birthday of his 5-year-old daughter, Yasmina when he was kidnapped without a trace. |
| May 17, 2003 | Abdullah Shraidi, former leader of Osbat al-Nour | Ain el-Hilweh | Shooting | Fatah | Shraidi died two months later, in July, [32] from wounds sustained during the shooting. |
| May 20, 2002 | Jihad Ahmed Jibril, leader of the military wing of the PFLP-GC | Beirut | Car bomb | Mossad | A 2 kg TNT booby trap had been put under the driver's seat of his car. The blast occurred in a crowded commercial center in Beirut's Mar Elias district. |
| May 2, 2004 | Pierre Boulos, former chairman of LF students' branch | Gemmayzeh | Abduction | Found dead in his car outside the Gemayze Hospital after disappearing. [33] | |
| July 19, 2004 | Ghaleb Awwali, Amal official | Beirut | Car bomb | Killed by a car bomb in Beirut | |
| February 14, 2005 | Rafik Hariri, billionaire and former Prime Minister of Lebanon | Beirut | Car bomb | Hezbollah | Killed, along with more than 20 others by a one tonne truck bomb that exploded as his motorcade passed by in Beirut. See Assassination of Rafic Hariri |
| Bassel Fleihan, Economics Minister in the Hariri government | Beirut | Car bomb | Hezbollah | Travelling in Hariri's motorcade, died of wounds sustained in explosion. See Assassination of Rafic Hariri | |
| June 2, 2005 | Samir Kassir, columnist at "An Nahar" newspaper and fierce critic of Syria | Beirut | Car bomb | Syria | Kassir was assassinated using a car bomb in Beirut on 2 June 2005, just a few days after the general elections. [34] |
| June 21, 2005 | George Hawi, former chief of the Lebanese Communist Party | Beirut | Car bomb | Hezbollah | When a bomb planted in his Mercedes car was detonated by remote control, as he travelled through Beirut's Wata Musaitbi neighbourhood. [35] |
| December 12, 2005 | Gibran Tueni, Editor in Chief of "An Nahar" newspaper | Mkalles | Car bomb | Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of al-Sham | Two of his bodyguards were also killed in the blast. |
| May 26, 2006 | Mahmoud al-Majzoub, Palestinian Islamic Jihad official | Sidon | Car bomb | Mossad | His brother Nidal al-Majzoub also died in the explosion. |
| November 21, 2006 | Pierre Gemayel, Minister of Industry | Jdeideh | Shooting | Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of al-Sham | The day before Lebanese Independence Day, at least three to four gunmen opened fire at close range on Gemayel with five different types of suppressed automatic weapons |
| June 13, 2007 | Walid Eido, Future Party member of the Lebanese Parliament | Beirut | Car bomb | Syrian intelligence | Several citizens were also killed, two of whom were Nejmeh footballers, Hussein Naeem and Hussein Dokmak. |
| September 19, 2007 | Antoine Ghanim, member of the Lebanese Parliament | Sin el Fil | Car bomb | Syrian intelligence | The car-bomb that killed him along with at least six others, including his two bodyguards, one of whom is Antoine Daou. |
| December 12, 2007 | François al-Hajj, General | Baabda | Car bomb | Syrian intelligence | Four other people, including his bodyguard, also died in the attack. [36] |
| January 25, 2008 | Wissam Eid, senior intelligence official within the Internal Security Forces of Lebanon | Hazmiyeh | Car bomb | Syrian intelligence | A car bomb attack containing an explosive charge of at least 50 kg of explosives killed him, along with his bodyguard and two civilians |
| February 12, 2008 | Imad Mughniyah, senior Hezbollah member | Kafr Sousa | Car bomb | Mossad | Killed by a car bomb blast at around 23:00 in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of Damascus, Syria. |
| September 10, 2008 | Saleh al Aridi, leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party | Baissour | Car bomb | Unknown | Killed by a 700gm bomb placed in his car outside his home in Aley District |
| March 23, 2009 | Kamal Naji, deputy representative of the PLO in Lebanon | Mieh Mieh | Bomb | Mossad (alleged) | Naji and three others were killed when a roadside bomb exploded as his convoy was passing the Kifah el Musallah security check point to Mieh Mieh camp near Sidon. [37] |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 19, 2012 | Wissam al-Hassan, head of information branch of the Internal Security Forces | Beirut | Car bomb | Syrian intelligence | Seven other people including his driver also died and nearly eighty people were wounded in the huge blast. [38] |
| December 4, 2013 | Hassan al-Laqqis, military commander of Hezbollah | Hadath | Shooting | ISIS in Lebanon | A number of gunmen shot him in the head in his car from close range as he arrived at his home |
| December 27, 2013 | Mohamad Chatah, former finance minister, ambassador to the United States, and advisor to Prime Minister Saad Hariri | Beirut | Car bomb | Hezbollah | Killed by a car bomb in Beirut. Presumed to be because Chatah was mentioned as a potential candidate for prime minister. Saad Hariri hinted that he believed the assassins to be from Hezbollah. [39] |
| February 20, 2014 | Abdulrahman Diab, Arab Democratic Party official [40] | Tripoli | Shooting | Unknown | Gunned down in his car by passing motorcyclists |
| Date | Victim(s) | Location | Method | Assassin(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 4, 2020 | Mohammad Ali Younes, head of Hezbollah's counter espionage unit | Nabatieh | Shooting | Unknown | His car was ambushed and had at least two stab wounds and four bullet wounds |
| December 2, 2020 | Mounir Abou Rjeily, head of the anti-smuggling unit in the Higher Customs Council | Qartaba | Stabbing | Unknown | It was found that the head was injured by a sharp instrument which led to his death. [41] |
| February 4, 2021 | Lokman Slim, publisher, political activist and commentator | Addousiyeh [42] | Shooting | Hezbollah | Stated that Hezbollah supporters had been threatening him at his home and accusing him of treason before his murder. [43] |
| July 30, 2023 | Abu Ashraf al Armoushi, Fatah militant | Ain el-Hilweh | Shooting | Shabab Al-Muslim | Islamist militants ambushed a Fatah military general in a parking lot, killing him and three bodyguards. |
| August 6, 2023 | Elias Hasrouni, former Lebanese Forces official [44] | Ain Ebel | Shooting | Hezbollah | Lebanese Forces veteran was found murdered in his car at his hometown. |
| January 2, 2024 | Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of Hamas | Dahieh | Airstrike | IDF | Killed along with six others by an Israeli drone strike in Dahieh, Beirut. [45] |
| January 8, 2024 | Wissam al-Tawil, commander in Hezbollah's Radwan Force | Majdel Selm | Airstrike | IDF | Highest ranking Hezbollah official killed during the 2023 Israel–Hezbollah conflict. [46] |
| January 9, 2024 | Ali Hussein Barji, Hezbollah aerial forces commander | Khirbet Selm | Airstrike | IDF | He was killed in an Israeli airstrike while attending the funeral of Wissam al-Tawil |
| April 7, 2024 | Pascal Suleiman, Lebanese Forces coordinator | Byblos | Shooting | Syrian gang | His abandoned body was found by Syrian soldiers in the Hawit area of Syria. Motives remain unknown. [47] Labeled as a political assassination by party officials. |
| April 9, 2024 | Mohammad Srour, Hamas money smuggler | Beit Meri | Shooting | Mossad (alleged) | According to the US Treasury, Srour funneled millions of dollars from Iran to Hamas. [48] |
| June 14, 2024 | Taleb Abdallah, commander of Hezbollah's Naser unit | Jwaya | Airstrike | IDF | Three other Hezbollah members were killed in the airstrike. [49] |
| July 30, 2024 | Fuad Shuker, senior Hezbollah leader and member of the Jihad Council | Haret Hreik | Airstrike | IDF | Six other deaths including Iranian military advisor, Milad Bidi. |
| August 9, 2024 | Samer al-Hajj, Hamas security agent. [50] | Sidon | Airstrike | IDF | Two civilians, a Palestinian and a Lebanese, were also injured. [51] |
| September 20, 2024 | Ibrahim Aqil, Redwan Force founder | Haret Hreik | Airstrike | IDF | Fourteen other Hezbollah members and 29 civilians killed. [52] |
| Ahmed Wehbe, Redwan Force leader | |||||
| September 24, 2024 | Ibrahim Qobeissy, Hezbollah missiles unit leader | Ghobeiry | Airstrike | IDF | At least six people were killed and 15 others injured [53] |
| September 26, 2024 | Muhammad Hussein Srour, Hezbollah air force leader | Beirut | Airstrike | IDF | Another person killed and 15 injured. [54] |
| September 27, 2024 | Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah | Bourj el-Barajneh | Airstrike | IDF | |
| Abbas Nilforoushan, Brigadier general of the IRGC | |||||
| Ali Karaki, Jihad Council member | |||||
| Nabil Qaouk, Deputy head of Hezbollah's executive council | |||||
| September 29, 2024 | Fatah Sharif, chairman of UNRWA's Teachers' Association | Tyre | Airstrike | IDF | He was killed along with his wife and two children, in the Al-Bass refugee camp in Tyre district, southern Lebanon. [55] |
| October 1, 2024 | Muhammad Ja'far Qasir, Hezbollah financer | Jnah | Airstrike | IDF | [56] |
| October 3, 2024 | Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah's Executive Council | Dahieh | Airstrike | IDF | Deaths only confirmed on October 23, 2024 |
| Hussein Ali Hazimah | |||||
| October 5, 2024 | Said Atallah, Hamas in Lebanon commander | Beddawi camp, Tripoli | Airstrike | IDF | Attallah was also killed alongside his wife and two daughters [57] |
| Mohammad al-Mahmoud, weapons manufacturer | |||||
| October 8, 2024 | Souheil Hussein Husseini, Hezbollah headquarter commander | Beirut | Airstrike | IDF | Husseini participated in weapon transfers between the Hezbollah and Iran. [58] |
| November 11, 2024 | Salim Ayyash, Hezbollah assassin | Al-Qusayr, Syria | Airstrike | IDF | Ayyash participated in the Assassination of Rafic Hariri. |
| November 17, 2024 | Mohammad Afif, Hezbollah spokesperson | Ras el Nabaa, Beirut | Airstrike | IDF | Was killed in the Ba'ath Party headquarters in Beirut. [59] |
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016.
Hassan Nasrallah was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024.
Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004.
Abbas al-Musawi was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the second secretary-general of Hezbollah from 1991 until his assassination by Israel in 1992.
Haret Hreik is a mixed Shia and Maronite Christian municipality, in the Dahieh suburbs, south of Beirut, Lebanon. It is part of the Baabda District. Once an agricultural and Christian village, Haret Hreik lost its rural and Christian identity due to the wave of Shia Muslim refugees from Southern Lebanon who settled in the town and made it another urban neighborhood of Dahieh.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused by several countries of training, financing, and providing weapons and safe havens for non-state militant actors, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and other Palestinian groups such as the Islamic Jihad (IJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). These groups are designated terrorist groups by a number of countries and international bodies such as the EU, UN, and NATO, but Iran considers such groups to be "national liberation movements" with a right to self-defense against Israeli military occupation. These proxies are used by Iran across the Middle East and Europe to foment instability, expand the scope of the Islamic Revolution, and carry out terrorist attacks against Western targets in the regions. Its special operations unit, the Quds Force, is known to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and political movements across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.
The Islamic Group abbreviated as the acronym JI is a Sunni Islamist political party in Lebanon. Jamaa Islamiya was founded in 1964 as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, it was established by young members of 'Ibad al Rahman. Its origins, as documented by Nizar Hamzeh, go back to the height of Gamal Abdel Nasser's efforts at Arab unity in the mid-1960s. It supports the idea of establishing a legal order in Lebanon that is based on Islamic shari'a. As a local branch it closely follows the doctrines of the Muslim Brotherhood. Fathi Yakan was the group's grandfather and main ideologue who is a veteran Islamist scholar and preacher from Tripoli.
The 2008 Lebanon conflict was a brief intrastate military conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between opposition militias and pro-government Sunnis. After the 18-month-long political crisis spiralled out of control, with the government's decision to dismantle Hezbollah's telecommunication system, Hezbollah seized control of majority Sunni neighorhoods in west Beirut. The conflict ended with the adoption of the Doha Accord in 2008.
Lokman Mohsen Slim was a Lebanese Shiite publisher, political activist, and commentator. As a contributor to the development of civil-society initiatives, several of which he founded, he promoted a Culture of Remembrance to cope with the many past and present conflicts of Lebanon and the whole region. Slim was known to be a prominent critic of Hezbollah.
Unit 121 is Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah's covert assassination team reporting directly to the group's Secretary-General. The unit has conducted deadly car bombings targeting Lebanese military and political leaders and journalists, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, law enforcement officer Wissam Eid, military officials Wissam al-Hassan and François al-Hajj, diplomat Mohamad Chatah, and political activist Lokman Slim.
Events in the year 2021 in Lebanon.
Monika Borgmann-Slim is a German–Lebanese journalist, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and archivist. She is an activist against what she describes as Lebanon's culture of impunity and Vergangenheitsbewältigung, countering official amnesia about the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). She is the widow of the Lebanese filmmaker, archivist and activist Lokman Slim, who was assassinated in 2021.
Events of the year 2024 in Israel.
On 2 January 2024, Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli strike on an office in the Dahieh suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. The strike also killed six other individuals, including additional high-ranking Hamas militants.
Wissam al-Tawil, also known as Jawad al-Tawil, was a Lebanese militant and senior commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Force.
In 2024, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict escalated to a series of direct confrontations between the two countries. On 1 April, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate complex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials. In response, Iran and its Axis of Resistance allies seized the Israeli-linked ship MSC Aries and launched strikes inside Israel on 13 April. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran and Syria on 19 April.
Terrorism in Lebanon refers to the acts of terrorism that have occurred in Lebanon through various phases of its history. According to the U.S. Country Reports on Terrorism in 2016 and 2017, Lebanon is considered a safe haven for certain terrorist groups. Terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon include Hezbollah, Palestinian militias, and other radical Sunni Muslim organizations. The government was reported to not be in control of "all regions" of the country which includes many refugee camps and its borders with Israel and Syria.
On 20 September 2024, Israel launched an air attack that leveled an apartment building in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. The attack killed at least 45 people, including 16 Hezbollah militants, including commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wehbe. The other victims were civilians, including at least three children and seven women. At least 68 others were injured.
Lebanon has faced severe decline in recent years, leading to widespread disillusionment across its sectarian groups. After gaining independence in 1943, Lebanon established a sectarian power-sharing system, dividing key government roles among its religious groups. While intended to ensure balance, this system has fostered corruption, patronage, and political fragmentation. Political elites often distribute positions for loyalty rather than merit, leading to a culture of impunity and widespread misuse of state resources, including "ghost employees" to secure support.
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