page_title: Rafic Hariri
section_title: Assassination
hierarchical_section_title: Rafic Hariri / Assassination
context_page_description: Rafic Baha El Deen Al Hariri was a Lebanese business tycoon and the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation on 20 October 2004.
  Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenure. He is widely credited for his role in constructing the Taif Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War and reconstructing the capital, Beirut. He was the first post-civil war prime minister and the most influential and wealthiest Lebanese politician until his assassination.
  Hariri was assassinated on 14 February 2005 by a suicide truck bomb in Beirut. Four Hezbollah members were indicted for the assassination and are being tried in absentia by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, but others have linked the assassination to the Syrian government.
  The assassination was a catalyst for dramatic political change in Lebanon. The massive protests of the Cedar Revolution helped achieve the withdrawal of Syrian troops and security forces from Lebanon and a change in governments.
  At one point, Hariri was one of the world's 100 wealthiest men and the fourth-richest politician.
context_section_description: On 14 February 2005, Hariri was killed when explosives equivalent to around 1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb) of TNT concealed inside a parked Mitsubishi van were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut. 23 people, including Hariri himself, were killed. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and his friend and former Minister of the Economy Bassel Fleihan. Hariri was buried along with his bodyguards, who died in the bombing, in a location near Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque.
  A 2006 report by Serge Brammertz indicated that DNA evidence collected from the crime scene suggests that the assassination might be the act of a young male suicide bomber.
  In its first two reports in 2014, the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission indicated that the Syrian government may be linked to the assassination. Lawyers tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the 2005 bombing said they had received evidence linking Bashar Assad's phone to the case.  In its tenth report, the UNIIIC concluded “that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.”
  A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news investigation claimed that the special UN investigation team had found evidence for the responsibility of Hezbollah in the assassination. A UN-backed tribunal issued four arrest warrants to members of Hezbollah.
  Hezbollah blamed the assassination on Israel.
  Alleged Hezbollah supporters Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra have been indicted for the assassination and are currently being tried in absentia by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
caption: Buildings damaged by the car bomb.
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