Major Lebanon Events since Hariri Assassination
Key events and attacks in Lebanon since former premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated on Valentine's Day three years ago:
2005
- Feb 14: Hariri and 22 others are killed in a car bombing on Beirut's seafront. Anti-Syrian politicians accuse Syria of involvement but Damascus denies.
- Feb 28: The pro-Syrian cabinet of Omar Karami resigns.
- March 8: More than 400,000 demonstrate in support of Syria, responding to calls Hizbullah and Amal.
- March 14: More than a million demonstrate against Syrian influence.
- April 26: The last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon after three decades of presence.
- May 7: Return of Christian Gen. Michel Aoun after 15 years in exile. A year later he allies himself with Hizbullah.
- May 29-June 19: The anti-Syrian opposition gains an absolute majority in legislative elections.
- July 19: Hariri ally Fouad Saniora forms a government including Hizbullah.
- Aug 30: Four pro-Syrian officers, including the head of the Lebanese presidential guard, arrested as part of Hariri assassination probe.
- Oct 12: Syria says its former intelligence chief in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, who has been questioned by U.N. investigators, has killed himself.
- Oct 20: An initial U.N. probe into Hariri's assassination implicates Syrian intelligence officials and former pro-Syrian Lebanese authorities.
- Dec 12: Assassination of anti-Syrian MP Gebran Tueni. The Saniora cabinet calls for an international tribunal to try Hariri's assassins.
Shiite ministers quit the government but return three months later.
- Dec 30: Former Syrian deputy premier, Abdel Halim Khaddam, accuses President Bashar al-Assad of having threatened Hariri.
2006
- Jan 23: Belgian Serge Brammertz takes over as head of the U.N. probe into Hariri's assassination.
- July 12-August 14: Israel and Hizbullah go to war after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah. Nearly 1,400 people are killed.
- Aug 11, U.N. resolution 1701 calls for the end of fighting and provides for the deployment of a strengthened peacekeeping force, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
- Oct 1: Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon as UN force reaches 5,000 soldiers. The Lebanese army deploys at the border for the first time in decades.
- Nov 11: Failure of talks aimed at forming a government of national unity. First of six pro-Syrian ministers resign.
- Nov 21: Anti-Syrian industry minister Pierre Gemayel shot dead.
- Dec 1: Start of an open-ended demonstration by the opposition who set up tents in downtown Beirut near the prime minister's office.
2007
- Jan 23-25, 2007: Seven dead in clashes between pro-government and anti-government supporters.
- May 20: Start of clashes between the army and Islamist group Fatah al-Islam the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon. The army takes the camp in early September. More than 400 are killed, including 168 soldiers.
- June 10: A controversial U.N. resolution setting up an international tribunal for the Hariri killing comes into force.
- June 13: MP Walid Eido among 10 dead in an attack.
- June 24: Six killed in an attack on Spanish U.N. peacekeepers.
- Sept 19: Antoine Ghanem becomes the fourth anti-Syrian MP assassinated since the May 2005 elections.
- Nov 23: The mandate of President Emile Lahoud expires. The post remains vacant, the majority and opposition having failed to elect his successor.
- Dec 12: A car bomb kills Gen. Francois El Hajj and a bodyguard near Beirut. Hajj had been tipped to replace army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman, the frontrunner to become president.
2008
- Jan 16: U.S. President George Bush, visiting the Middle East, calls for an end to "Syrian interference" in Lebanon.
- Jan 25: Four killed, including top anti-terrorism officer Captain Wissam Eid, in a bomb blast targeting a security convoy in a Christian suburb of Beirut.
- Jan 27: Seven die in clashes between army and demonstrators in Beirut.
- Feb 9: Failure of Arab mediation effort. Failure at the 14th attempt to elect a president for Lebanon.
- Feb 13: Hizbullah announces the murder the previous day in Damascus of top commander Imad Mughnieh in a car bombing.
- Feb 14: Hundreds of thousands of government supporters rally in Beirut to mark the third anniversary of Hariri's death as Hizbullah holds a mass funeral ceremony for Mughniyeh.(AFP)
Beirut, 14 Feb 08, 13:41
