Word: hariri
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...report, released by a U.N. commission investigating the February 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, stated that the former Lebanese premier was killed by a "network of individuals" also suspected of being linked to some of the other assassinations to have plagued Lebanon in the past three years...
...Syria, which dominated Lebanon at the time of Hariri's murder, is considered by many as the main suspect, although Damascus has denied involvement and public evidence remains circumstantial...
...Hariri's assassination sparked outrage in Lebanon and a series of mass protests that forced Syria to disengage from its tiny neighbor two months later. Since then, however, Lebanon has been mired in deep political crisis, in which the Western-backed government and its supporters are at loggerheads with a pro-Syrian opposition. The United States and its Arab allies, including regional giants Saudi Arabia and Egypt, blame Syria for the deadlock in Lebanon, which has left the country without a president since November. In a snub to Damascus, half the 22 heads of state invited to attend the Arab...
...Looming specter-like above Lebanon's worsening crisis during the past three years has been the U.N. investigation into Hariri's murder, the final results of which are awaited by the Lebanese with a paradoxical blend of hope that it will end the crisis, and dread for what the truth might entail...
...Brammertz adopted a very different approach when he took over from Mehlis in December 2005. He shunned the media and released perfunctory reports that revealed little of the investigation's progress. He confirmed that the likely motive for Hariri's assassination was his political activities, centered on the former prime minister's deteriorating relations with the Syrian leadership in the last months of his life. And there appeared to be no drastic change of direction in the focus of the investigation as first conveyed by Mehlis. But there was no more naming of suspects, nor inclusion of witness statements that...