Assassination attempt on Rafiq al-Hariri

Rafiq al-Hariri in 2001

View of the site of the attack from the east at the Hotel St. Georges

View from the west of the attack

Hariri's memorial shrine

At the site of the attack in front of the HSBC bank there is now a monument with a tower and the statue of Rafiq al-Hariri

The attack on Rafiq al-Hariri is a bomb attack on the Lebanese ex-prime minister and businessman Rafiq al-Hariri on February 14, 2005 in Beirut . In addition to Hariri, 22 other people were killed. There were more than 100 injured.

Although Syria denies any involvement in the attack, the reports of the commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations indicate that members of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services, possibly even the highest levels of government, were involved in the attack or at least knew about it in advance. The investigation is still ongoing.

The attack led to conflicts in the Lebanese government in the years that followed. In 2011, four arrest warrants were issued against members of Hezbollah .

The assassination

The detonation occurred in the inner city district of Minet el-Hosn when Hariri's car convoy was driving along the Corniche on the north coast of Beirut from Parliament in the Nejmeh district . The bomb, with an explosive force of around 1000 kilograms of TNT equivalent , also devastated the Hotel St. Georges and a branch of the British HSBC bank, next to which the bomb was placed. The Phenicia InterContinental Hotel opposite was also damaged. A total of 23 people died in the attack. More than 100 people were injured.

In a video that was later broadcast by the Arab TV channel Al Jazeera , a bearded man said a group called an-Nusra wa l-Jihad fi Bilad asch-Scham (in English: support and jihad in the land of Greater Syria ) had Hariri killed because he was an "agent of the Saudi Arabian regime" . With the attack, the group wanted to take revenge for the "warriors of God" killed by the police in Saudi Arabia . From the beginning, there were considerable doubts about the authenticity of the recording and the reasons. The spokesman on the video was later identified by Lebanese security forces as the Palestinian refugee Ahmad Taisir Abu Adas, who lives in Beirut . After an anonymous body was found at the scene of the attack, it was initially said that it was Abu Adas, who had died in the explosion. However, it was also alleged that he was in contact with various terrorist organizations or secret services and that he went into hiding with their help.

In view of the political climate and after the scene of the crime had apparently been purposely cleared shortly after the attack without taking any further evidence, the Lebanese side was no longer expected to make any serious contribution. That is why Kofi Annan , the Secretary General of the United Nations , announced on February 18, 2005 that a UN commission would be sent to collect the facts.

UN investigation

Under the direction of the Irish police officer Peter FitzGerald, this commission began work on February 25, 2005 and already presented its final report on March 24, 2005 . Responsibility for the climate in which the attack took place has been assigned to the Syrian government and the Lebanese security services. However, a larger international investigation is required to determine the perpetrators.

Then the continued UN Security Council on 7 April 2005 with the UN Resolution 1595 (2005) , the International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) as an independent international commission based in Lebanon. Commissioned by Kofi Annan personally, it was managed on May 20, 2005 by the Berlin Public Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis , who had already conducted the investigation into the attack on the La Belle discotheque in Berlin . The commission with over 100 employees from 30 nations moved into the heavily guarded Hotel Monteverde in a Beirut suburb and started work in mid-June. Mehlis then submitted a first report on October 20, 2005 and a second on December 10, 2005. It then appeared to be clear that the attack was based on a broad conspiracy by Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese forces. "Without the consent of high-ranking Syrian security forces and without the knowledge of their partners in the Lebanese services," the attack planning was not possible, according to the Mehlis report . However, the reports were largely based on statements by a fraudster who had been convicted on several occasions and who, according to UN circles not named, had verifiably lied and was also suspected of having received money for his testimony.

Three Lebanese intelligence generals and the head of the presidential guard were arrested on the recommendation of the commission of inquiry. The group of suspects extended to the highest political circles in Lebanon and Syria. The Christian President of Lebanon, Émile Lahoud , was suspected of having at least been informed about the attack plans. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is said to have threatened Hariri in August 2004 that he would "break Lebanon to pieces on Hariri's head" if he refused to extend President Lahoud's term of office.

The Syrian side rejects the allegations as politically motivated. The Mehlis report is a political statement based on allegations made by witnesses known for their hostility to Syria, said Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dachlallah.

After a discussion of the Mehlis report in the Security Council on December 13, 2005, however, the request to expand the work of the commission and to set up an international tribunal against those responsible was only partially fulfilled. In addition to an extension of the commission by six months and renewed calls to Syria for cooperation, resolution 1644 (2005) , which was passed unanimously on December 15 (at the instigation of Russia, China and Algeria), only authorized the commission to give the Lebanese authorities technical support in the investigation To provide help. The desire for an international process was only noted.

At the end of December 2005, Detlev Mehlis resigned as head of the investigation. On January 11, 2006, the Belgian Serge Brammertz was appointed as his successor as UN special investigator. In his report to the UN Security Council, he indicated sloppiness in the work of his predecessor. The mandate of the Commission was extended on March 27, 2007 by resolution 1748 (2007) to June 15, 2008.

tribunal

An international tribunal should be established to bring those accused of involvement in the attack to justice. According to the draft at the time, the establishment of two criminal chambers was planned. The first chamber should consist of three judges, one of them from Lebanon, the second chamber, which was designed as an appeal chamber, should consist of five judges, two of whom should be Lebanese.

The lawyer Akram Azouri, who represented the former General Jamil Sayyid , called for the draft to be published on the Internet. The responsible examining magistrate, Elias Eid, rejected the request of the defense counsel for the two defendants Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan to release the two former generals from custody. You and former General Ali Hajj were arrested in September 2005 for alleged involvement in the Hariri attack.

In a report to the UN Security Council, the chief investigator of the United Nations Brammertz found that forensic investigations had shown that the alleged driver of the white van was most likely not from Lebanon. According to Brammertz, the investigation showed a possible connection between all fifteen bombings .

The Lebanese cabinet approved the draft statutes for the international tribunal on November 13, 2006. However, all Shiite ministers and one other minister who is considered loyal to the pro-Syrian president had previously submitted their resignation and did not attend the cabinet meeting. The resignation of the Greek Orthodox environment minister, Yaqub Sarraf , showed that it was not only a question of stronger representation of the Shiites in the cabinet, but also of a protest by pro-Syrian forces. Hezbollah's main Christian ally and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement ruled that “because the Shiites are no longer present in the cabinet, the cabinet automatically became incapable of governing . It has lost its legitimacy. " .

At the same time, Lebanese President Émile Lahoud wrote a letter to Kofi Annan in which he stressed that the cabinet decision was "invalid, null and non-existent" because of the violation of Article 52 of the Lebanese constitution .

The UN Secretary General nevertheless proposed that the United Nations Security Council ratify the draft statutes and only a few hours after the Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel junior was shot dead in an assassination attempt in the Beirut district of Dscheideh on November 21, 2006 in Beirut the Security Council approves the draft. On May 30, 2007, the Security Council passed resolution 1757 (2007) with 10 votes , with which the establishment of the tribunal under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations should take place if Lebanon does not constitute the special court itself by June 10. On March 1, 2009, the special tribunal for Lebanon was established.

On June 30, 2011, the UN tribunal published the indictment. Arrest warrants were issued for four members of Hezbollah, including Mustafa Badreddin , a brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyya .

On August 18, 2020, the volatile Lebanese Salim Jamil Ajjash was found guilty. The sentence is still to be determined. Three other defendants were acquitted.

Aftermath

Two weeks after the assassination, on February 28, Prime Minister Omar Karami submitted his government's resignation during a stormy parliamentary debate . Observers attributed the sudden decision to the emotional appearance of the sister of the murdered ex-prime minister, MP Bahiyya Hariri, and the increasing foreign pressure (especially from the USA and France). However, the mass protests taking place at the same time on Martyrs' Square within earshot of Parliament also made a decisive contribution.

Syria's Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan died on October 12, 2005 in connection with the murder of Hariri . The Syrian government announced that he had committed suicide. Shortly before his death, he had given a radio interview in which he said that this would probably be the last statement he would make.

The protests in Lebanon continued as the so-called " Cedar Revolution " . Up to 1.5 million people demonstrated peacefully against the Syrian occupation of the country, ultimately forcing Syria to make concessions and, above all, to later withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Bibliography

Nicolas Blanford : Killing Mr. Lebanon. The Assassination of Rafik Hariri and its Impact on the Middle East. Tauris, London a. a. 2006, ISBN 1-84511-202-4 .
Jürgen Cain Külbel : Hariri murder files. Suppressed traces (= Edition Zeitgeschichte. Vol. 34). Kai Homilius Verlag , Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89706-860-5 .
Jürgen Cain Külbel: Ietail Al-Hariri. Adellah Machfiyyah Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89706-973-3 .
René Naba : Rafic Hariri. Un homme d'affaires Premier ministre. L'Harmattan, Paris et al. a. 2000, ISBN 2-7384-8495-6 .
Richard Labévière : Le grand retournement. Baghdad - Beyrouth. Seuil, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-02-088406-2 .