Eurasia Press & News
LEBANON – At least three people were killed in an explosion which damaged a U.S. diplomatic car in Beirut on Tuesday and wounded a passenger, security sources said.
Here is a chronology of some of the main events in Lebanon since former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed, along with 22 other people, on February 14, 2005.
February 28, 2005 – Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns.
March 5 – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells his parliament Syrian troops will start phased pullout from Lebanon.
April 26 – Last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon.
June 2 – Samir Kassir, journalist opposed to Syria’s role in Lebanon, is killed in Beirut by a bomb in his car.
June 16 – U.N. investigation into Hariri’s killing starts.
June 19 – Lebanese parliamentary elections end in victory for anti-Syrian alliance led by Hariri’s son Saad al-Hariri.
June 21 – Former Communist Party leader and critic of Syria George Hawi is killed in Beirut by a bomb in his car.
October 20 – U.N. investigators, in report to U.N. Security Council, say high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies were involved in Hariri’s killing. Syria denies it.
December 12 – Gebran Tueni, anti-Syrian member of parliament and Lebanese newspaper magnate, is killed by a car bomb near Beirut.
July 12, 2006 – Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers in cross-border raid, setting off 34-day war in which about 1,200 Lebanese are killed.
November 11 – Five pro-Syrian Shi’ite Muslim ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, resign after collapse of all-party talks on their demand for more say in government.
November 21 – Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is killed by gunmen. U.N. Security Council approves plans for tribunal to try suspects in assassination of Hariri and subsequent attacks.
December 1 – Hezbollah, Amal and supporters of Christian leader Michel Aoun camp outside Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s office in central Beirut in open-ended campaign to topple government.
January 25, 2007 – Aid conference in Paris pledges more than $7.6 billion to help Lebanon recover from the war.
February 13 – Three people are killed in two bomb blasts near a Christian village northeast of Beirut.
June 13 – Anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido and five other people killed by a car bomb near a Beirut beach club.
September 2 – Lebanese troops seize complete control of Nahr al-Bared camp after months of fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants. More than 420 people, including 168 soldiers, have been killed in the worst internal violence since the civil war.
September 19 – Car bomb in Beirut kills seven people, including anti-Syrian Christian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem.
September 25 – Parliament postpones a presidential election for the first of 12 times in a bid to break a deadlock over a consensus candidate and to end the political crisis. France leads mediation efforts for a deal on a presidential candidate.
November 23 – President Emile Lahoud leaves presidential palace at the end of his term, without a successor.
November 24 – Siniora says his cabinet is assuming executive powers in the absence of a president.
December 5 – Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on General Michel Suleiman as president.
December 12 – Car bomb kills Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, the army’s head of operations, and a number of bodyguards in a Christian town east of Beirut.
January 8, 2008 – Two U.N. peacekeeping soldiers are slightly wounded when their vehicle hits a roadside bomb near Rmaileh village south of Beirut.
Jan 11 – Lebanon delays its presidential vote in parliament again, to January 21.
Jan 15 – A car bomb attack in a Christian area of Beirut kills at least three people and wounds 16, in an explosion that damaged a U.S. embassy car and destroyed others.
