Events

On 4 August 2020, a fire at the Beirut Port detonated a storage of ammonium nitrate that had been confiscated in 2014 and since been stored at the port without any precautions. The explosion killed over 200 individuals, destroyed or damaged large parts of Beirut, caused a resurgence in the protest movement in Lebanon, and led to the resignation of the government. There have been on-going tensions around Port Explosion. One of which is the series of assassinations in Lebanon that have been potentially linked to the explosion: Mounir Abou Rjeily, head of the anti-smuggling unit in the Higher Customs Council, and Joseph Bejjani, a photographer, were both assassinated in December 2020, while Lokman Slim, a political commentator, was assassinated in February 2021. Furthermore, an investigation was opened into the Port Explosion under Judge Fadi Sawan, yet he was removed from the investigation in February 2021 upon request from some of the ministers he issued charges against, prompting protests. Judge Tarek Bitar was then appointed to lead the investigation. In October 2021, a protest in Beirut organized by Hezbollah and its allies against Bitar, accusing him of being partisan, devolved into violence in the Beirut neighborhood of Tayyoune, a former frontline during the Civil War.

Starting in the summer of 2019, the black market rate for the Lebanese lira started deviating from the official rate in light of the Lebanese government defaulting on its debt. Additionally, parts of Lebanon were decimated by wildfires in October 2019, which Lebanon was unable to respond to due to a lack of maintenance of firefighting equipment. As a result of the financial situation in Lebanon, the Lebanese cabinet announced planned financial measures on 17 October 2019, prompting the outbreak of country-wide protests. The protests focused on corruption, political stagnation, the sectarian system, and political and financial mismanagement in the country, as well as social dynamics including migrant and women's rights. The protests resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. As a result of the 2019 Revolution, thirteen independent "Change" members of parliament were elected in 2022 in the first parliamentary elections after the uprising.

On 21 November 2006, Pierre Amine Gemayel was assassinated in the Metn area during a period marked by political tensions and a series of assassinations targeting public figures in Lebanon. He was a Lebanese politician and member of Parliament, and the son of former president Amine Gemayel. He was affiliated with the Kataeb Party and was first elected to Parliament in 2000, then re-elected in 2005. Following the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005, he served as Minister of Industry.

On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah fighters crossed into Israel, killed eight soldiers, and kidnapped two others. In response, Israel launched a full-scale attack on Lebanon, starting with bombing Beirut International Airport and invading the south of the country. The war lasted 33 days and mainly targeted South Lebanon and the southern areas of Beirut, aiming to eliminate Hezbollah from South Lebanon. The war significantly changed the urban, social, and political fabric of South Lebanon and the Dahiyeh, the Beirut southern suburbs. Over a thousand Lebanese civilians were killed in the span of a month. Despite some Israeli strategic and military wins, the war revived Hezbollah's political and popular presence while amplifying the already polarizing political climate around its arms.

Journalist, publisher, and Member of Parliament, Gebran Tuéni was a central figure in Lebanon’s media and political landscape. As publisher of An-Nahar newspaper, he carried forward a family legacy of political journalism while positioning the paper as a leading platform for sovereignty, reform, and public debate. Elected to Parliament in May 2005, Tuéni became internationally known for his oath in Martyrs’ Square affirming Lebanon’s unity and independence. On 12 December 2005, he was assassinated in a car bombing in the Mkalles area near Beirut, in what was widely viewed as part of the same wave of political killings that targeted anti-Syrian figures. The Gebran Tueni Foundation was later established to advance media freedom, democratic values, and civic engagement in his name.

George Hawi was a veteran political leader and former Secretary-General of the Lebanese Communist Party, which he led during much of the Lebanese Civil War. Over time, Hawi became a vocal critic of Syrian military and political influence in Lebanon, advocating national sovereignty and political reform. In the years leading up to 2005, he aligned himself with emerging cross-sectarian opposition forces demanding the end of Syrian tutelage. On 21 June 2005, just weeks after Samir Kassir’s assassination, Hawi was killed by a car bomb in Beirut. His assassination was widely understood as part of a broader campaign targeting figures associated with the anti-Syrian independence movement that reshaped Lebanese politics in 2005.

Rafiq Hariri's assassination triggered large protests under the name the Independence Intifada in Lebanon and specifically Beirut calling for the end of the Syrian occupation and the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon. The protest movement resulted in the formation of a coalition called the 14 March Alliance, a collection of various political groups in Lebanon united in their anti-Syrian stance, and a counter-protest movement and alliance called the 8 March Alliance. The division of political parties into these two coalitions continues to impact Lebanese politics. The Revolution also resulted in the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the end of the Syrian occupation on 27 April 2005.

May Chidiac is a Lebanese journalist and later minister known for her outspoken anti-Syria and anti-Hezbollah positions. On 25 September 2005 in Jounieh, she survived a car-bomb assassination attempt that severely injured her, leading to the amputation of her left leg and later her left arm. The attack came during the wave of political violence following the assassination of Rafic Hariri. After a long recovery, she returned to public life and media work. In response to the attack, she founded the May Chidiac Foundation (MCF). The foundation focuses on media training, research, development, leadership and peace-building.

On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri was killed in a car bomb in Beirut, accusations for which focused on Syria and Hezbollah. His assassination led to the Cedar Revolution, also called the Independence Intifada; the establishment of two political camps in Lebanon aligned on their anti- or pro-Syrian/Hezbollah position (14 March Alliance as anti-Syrian and 8 March as pro-Syrian); and the withdrawal of Syrian forces and the end of the Syrian occupation in April 2005. His assassination also led to the creation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), a hybrid court based in The Hague with a mandate to hold trials for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others; as well as for assassinations of other individuals from October 2004 to December 2005. In August 2020, the court convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash, a Hezbollah member, in absentia, and the STL closed in 2023.

Journalist, historian, and professor, Samir Kassir was one of Lebanon’s most prominent intellectual voices advocating democracy and sovereignty. A faculty member at Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut and a columnist for An-Nahar newspaper, Kassir was known for his sharp critiques of authoritarianism and Syrian political dominance in Lebanon. He played an active role in the civic mobilizations that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, contributing to the broader movement that called for Syrian withdrawal. On 2 June 2005, Kassir was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut’s Ashrafieh district. His killing marked one of the first in a series of targeted assassinations that year. In his memory, the Samir Kassir Foundation was established to promote freedom of expression, independent journalism, and democratic culture in Lebanon and the region.

On 24 May 2000, Israel withdrew to the internationally marked border with Lebanon, and as a result, thousands of Lebanese SLA officials and members fled into Israel. The Israeli withdrawal allowed for access and travel within South Lebanon and the rest of the country, and notably allowed for the liberation of prisoners left in the Israeli and SLA run-prison in Khiam. Khiam was turned into a museum until it was bombed during the 2006 war. Israel's withdrawal was marked as a clear and decisive political victory for Hezbollah, the leading anti-occupation militant group in South Lebanon at the time.

On 27 February 1994, a bomb exploded in a church in Zouk Mikael called Sayidat al-Najat (Lady of Deliverance), killing 10 people. In response, Lebanese Forces members and supporters were arrested, including leader Samir Geagea, on 21 April 1994. While Geagea and the group was not found to be guilty of the church bombing, he was found guilty in June 1995 for the killing of Dany Chamoun, who was killed on 21 October 1990 alongside his family by gunmen in their home. Geagea was able to be sentenced because political assassinations were exempt from the General Amnesty Law of 1991 (Law No. 84/91). He was sentenced to death which was commuted to life in prison, where he remained until he was granted amnesty and released in July 2005 once the Syrian army withdrew and the occupation of Lebanon ended on 27 April 2005, a new government was formed under Fouad Siniora in July 2005, and the Parliament voted to grant Samir Geagea amnesty. Geagea is the only leader from the civil war who was tried and sentenced to jail for crimes committed during the war.

On 30 August 30, 1989, the Arab High Tripartite Committee, formed by the Arab League, issued its draft document of national accord in Lebanon, which defined the general principles of political reform, the system, and Lebanese-Syrian relations. Subsequent meetings in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, resulted in the Ta'if Agreement, or the National Accord Document, on 22 October 1989. The Lebanese Parliament ratified it on 4 November 1989. It refined the power-sharing structure in Lebanon, called for the disarmament of militias in Lebanon, and allowed Syria to remain in Lebanon for up to two years. A later Amnesty Law, passed in 1991, granted a broad pardon for crimes committed during the war and exempted warlords and militia members from liability for most crimes.

From March 1989 to October 1990, Lebanese army forces loyal to Michel Aoun fought the War of Liberation against Syrian forces in Beirut. As Aoun's forces were based in East Beirut and Syria's forces in West Beirut, the fighting resulted in a Syrian seige of East Beirut and heavy shelling of residential areas on both sides of the city. Approximately 500 persons were killed in the process. This resulted in Syria launching an attack on the Presidential Palace in Baabda in October 1990, causing Aoun to seek refuge in the French Embassy and later go into exile in France from 1991 to 2005.

The Amal Movement, with support from Walid Jumblatt and Sleiman Franjieh, organized a rebellion against President Amin Gemayel in opposition to the 17 May 1983 agreement signed between Israel, the US, and Lebanon under Gemayal. In response, Gemayal mobilized the Lebanese Army, leading to clashes and bombardments of areas of Beirut; Muslim members of the Lebanese army also defected to the rebellion. Amal emerged victorious and in control of parts of West Beirut, including radio and television services in Beirut, and notably the Dahiyeh, forcing the Lebanese army out of the capital and rendering the 17 May agreement void.

Starting in the beginning of 1983, Druze and Christian militias were clashing in the Chouf-Aley region. However, fighting between the two groups escalated between 31 August and 13 September, when the violence took the form of mass killings of Christians and Druze, and the result was a widespread evacuation of Christians from the area. This was accompanied by a siege of the Christian town Deir el Qamar from 7 September to 15 December 1983. War of the Mountain resulted in the killing of 1,155 Christians and 207 Druze civlians.

On 23 August 1982, the Lebanese Parliament elected Lebanese Forces leader Bachir Gemayel as president of Lebanon. On 14 September 1982, a bomb targeted the Kataeb headquarters in East Beirut, killing Gemayel. In response, the Israeli army invaded West Beirut on 15 September.

On 5 April 1982, Israel launched several air raids on Palestinian camps and PLO bases in the southern area of Beirut. In response, on the same day, Palestinian groups in Lebanon launched rockets into Israel. On 3 June 1982 there was an assassination attempt in London of the Israeli Ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov. Israel blamed the PLO and launched Operation Peace for the Galilee on 5 June 1982, invading Lebanon again. By 15 June, Israeli forces surrounded Beirut and implemented a siege of the capital until 21 August 1982, at which point PLO fighters began to evacuate from Beirut until 1 September 1982. A Multinational Force (MNF) of U.S., French, and Italian members were deployed to Beirut to supervise the evacuation, after which they departed.

In the aftermath of the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, on 14 September the Israeli army surroundeded the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila on the southern edge of Beirut, and began shelling the camps on 15 September. From 16 to 18 September 1982, members of the Kataeb entered the camps and killed between 700 and 3,500 residents, facilitated by Israeli flares fired during the night and by their preventing of residents from fleeing. The victims were Palestinian refugees and Lebanese living in the camps; bodies were mutilated and left in the streets and in mass graves, women were raped, and homes were demolished with bodies still inside them.

For three months from 31 March 1981 to 30 June 1981, the Syrian army besieged and bombarded Zahleh after the Lebanese Forces attacked a Syrian army convoy outside of the city. Starting in April, the city was besieged by the Syrian army and there were clashes between the Syrian Army and the Lebanese Forces. At the same time, Israel shot down Syrian helicopters to counter Syrian attacks on the town.

On 24 August 1978, Shia leader Musa al-Sadr departed from Lebanon to Libya for a government visit; he and his two travel companions were last seen on 31 August 1978. Al-Sadr was a seminal leader for the Lebanese Shia community, and founded the Movement of the Disinherited in 1974; his prominance and legacy continued beyond and in light of his disappearance.

On 13 June 1978, President Frangieh’s son Tony Frangieh and his family, along with 28 others, were killed in Ehden in an attack by members of the Lebanese Forces. This further informed intra-Christian combat which lasted up until the end of the civil war.

On 11 March 1978, a group of Palestinian fighters (among them Dalal al-Mughrabi, a young Palestinian-Lebanese woman) left Lebanon, landed in northern Israel, and undertook the Coastal Road attack, in which 38 Israeli civilians were killed. In response, Israel invaded Lebanon on 14 March 1978 in an operation known as Operation Litani with the objective to remove the Palestinian bases along the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli Army took control of Lebanon south of the Litani River until 13 June. Already before the Litani Operation, Christian-led border militias had formed in south Lebanon, but with the Israeli invasion, the militia formed in the Free Lebanon Army lead by Saad Haddad, declared on 28 March 1978, later named the South Lebanon Army (SLA). When Israel withdrew to a security strip along the border with Lebanon on 13 June 1978, it turned over positions and supported the SLA: the Israeli-supported SLA and Israeli presence continued in South Lebanon until the withdrawal in May 2000. This Israeli invasion of Lebanon also prompted the formation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that remains in South Lebanon until today.

On 16 March 1977, Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt was assassinated in the Chouf region. Following his killing, 177 Christian civilians were killed in several villages in Chouf and in West Beirut, with many of the bodies mutilated and women raped. Further attacks on Christians in the Chouf led the community to flee the area.