Word: damascus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nahar newspaper, was dead, blown to pieces by a bomb planted beneath the driver's seat of his gray Alfa Romeo. It was the first assassination in Lebanon since the murder of former Premier Rafiq Hariri in February, which sparked huge anti-Syrian demonstrations and finally compelled Damascus to disengage from its neighbor at the end of April. Why was Kassir targeted? He was the most outspoken critic of Syria's stranglehold over Lebanon. "It's a message to say that despite the international pressure, these people are still here and have a violent agenda," says Ziad Majed, deputy president...
Those words would haunt Hariri for the rest of his life. Seven weeks after his meeting in Damascus, he resigned. Almost four months after that, he was dead, assassinated on Valentine's Day in rebuilt downtown Beirut, the jewel of his political achievements, as he prepared to launch a bid to reclaim power and rid Lebanon of Syrian influence. In death, Hariri managed to obtain the prize he so desperately sought in the final months of his life. After his assassination a million Lebanese poured into the streets, galvanizing international opinion against Damascus and forcing the withdrawal of Syrian troops...
...mystery. The bombing site remains cordoned off by police tape, the street littered with the gnarled remains of cars burned by the blast. A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded in March that the Syrian regime bore "primary responsibility" for the political circumstances leading up to Hariri's assassination, though Damascus has denied any involvement. A U.N. team arrived in Lebanon at the end of May to begin a formal investigation, but it's unclear whether the probe will finger the perpetrators...
...August meeting in Damascus was a confrontation between two men with vastly different resumes, styles and visions. Hariri, 60 at the time of his death, was a gregarious, self-made billionaire with friends from Paris to the Persian Gulf. Assad, an ophthalmologist, now 39, had inherited the presidency after the death of his father Hafez in 2000. Hariri had tried to court the younger Assad, but by last summer the two men were on a collision course. First Assad ordered Hariri to support a change to Lebanon's constitution that would extend the tenure of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud...
...jokingly asked Jumblatt, "Who will be assassinated first, you or me?" Still, he shrugged off warnings that he might be killed, claiming to have U.S., French and Saudi assurances for his safety. On Feb. 10, Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. envoy overseeing Resolution 1559's implementation, met Assad in Damascus. According to people familiar with the conversation, Assad was preoccupied with Hariri's brazenness. "There is no opposition," Assad told Roed-Larsen, according to a Hariri aide. "There is only Rafiq Hariri." The next day, Roed-Larsen dined with Hariri in Beirut. Hariri informed Fleihan that Roed-Larsen had warned...