Chronology of Lebanese Assassinations

Below is a chronology of some of the major political assassinations in Lebanon, over the last three decades. This list is incomplete, because Lebanon has lost thousands more,... an actual list can never be compiled.

March 1977 - Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt is killed in an ambush in his Shouf mountain fiefdom in central Lebanon.

June 1978 - Tony Franjiya, son of former president Sulaiman Franjiya, is assassinated in raid by Christian militia rivals at his home in Ehden, north Lebanon.

September 1982 - Bashir Gimayil, elected president, is killed before taking office by a bomb allegedly planted by a pro-Syrian Christian.

June 1987 - Lebanon's veteran prime minister Rashid Karami is killed by a bomb in an army helicopter in Tripoli. Karami was serving his ninth term as prime minister in a 37-year career.

May 1989 - Grand Mufti Shaikh Hasan Khalid, religious head of Lebanon's Sunni community, is killed by a car bomb in Beirut. The blast killed 22 people and wounded 80.

November 1989 - President Rene Muawad is killed in a huge bomb explosion in Beirut. Muawad had only recently been elected.

October 1990 – Armed men kill Dany Chamoun, chairman of the National Liberal Party and former Christian militia leader.

February 1992 - Israelis kill Abbas Mussawi, leader of Hizballah, in helicopter ambush of his convoy near village of Jibshyt in south Lebanon.

January 2002 - Elie Hubaika, former minister and leader of a Christian militia is killed in Beirut.

February 2005 - Huge car bomb kills Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri on Beirut's waterfront.

June 2, 2005 - Anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated on June 2 when a bomb detonated in his car outside his home in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district. Kassir was a front-page columnist for the al-Nahar newspaper, where he wrote columns criticizing the pro-Syrian regime.

June 21, 2005 - George Hawi, former Lebanese Communist Party leader and a critic of Syria, died when his car exploded as he was driving through Beirut's Wata Musaitbi district on June 21.

December 12, 2005 - Gebran Tueni, was assassinated by a car bomb that killed three other people and wounded 10. The explosion blew up Tueni's armoured SUV near his residence east of Beirut. Tueni's assassination coincided with the release of the second progress report of a United Nations inquiry into Syria's involvement in the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

November 21, 2006 - Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, minister of industry, was killed when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection in the Sin El Fil suburb of Beirut and an assassin shot him numerous times through a side window of his car

June 13, 2007 - Walid Eido, an anti-Syrian member of the Lebanese parliament, his son and two bodyguards died in a car bombing in Beirut outside of the Sporting Club in the Manara Area. Also six civilians were killed, including 2 key players from the Nijmeh Soccer Club, who were exiting the adjacent soccer field after practice.

September 19, 2007 - Antoine Ghanem was assassinated by a bomb that targeted his car in Beirut’s suburb of Sin el-Fil, Hursh Tabet area. Mr. Ghanem, 64, was a member of the Phalange Party, led by ex–president Amine Gemayel. Six other people were killed and 70 wounded in the attack, which occured less than a week from when Lebanese MPs were scheduled to meet to elect a new president.