Thursday, February 14, 2008

MAJOR EVENTS UNTIL FEB 14th 2008

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