in Switzerland, Karami became Prime Minister for the eighth time, heading government of national reconciliation. This period saw increasing Syrian influence in the wake of the partial Israeli withdrawal following their invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which Karami had strongly opposed. In 1986 he rejected the National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis, which had been drafted with minimal Sunni Muslim participation. This opposition created a tense relationship with President Amine Gemayel. Continuing problems led Karami to resign on 4 May 1987, but Gemayel, seeing no viable alternative, refused to accept his resignation. Personal life Karami was married to the sister of Anbara Salam and Saeb Salam, who had also been one of the Prime Ministers of Lebanon. Assassination and burial On 1 June 1987, Karami was killed after a bomb was placed in his Aérospatiale Puma helicopter en route to Beirut. The bomb weighed about 300 gm. Its remote control trigger had a range of 10 km. It was fixed to the back of his seat and exploded shortly after taking off from an army airfield in the Christian enclave while flying from Tripoli to Beirut. Karami was the only one killed in the blast. Interior Minister Abdullah Rasi and at least three of a dozen other aides and crew members aboard the helicopter were reported wounded. Maronite militia leader Samir Geagea was accused in 1994 for this assassination. Rashid Karami was buried in a cemetery in the Bab al Raml neighborhood of Tripoli. The condolences were received in the International fair of Tripoli, a project designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Perpetrators Following the assassination, a man claimed responsibility for killing on behalf of the previously unknown Lebanese Secret Army, calling to a Western news agency in Beirut. In 1999, Samir Geagea and ten other members of the Lebanese Forces were found guilty of the assassination. Soon after Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005, Samir Geagea and the others were provisionally pardoned and released from jail. However, it has been suggested, by Ashraf Rifi, that a Syrian officer purposely led Karami to the booby-trapped helicopter to assassinate him. See also List of assassinated Lebanese politicians References External links 1921 births 1987 deaths Assassinated heads of government Assassinated Lebanese politicians Children of national leaders Defense ministers of Lebanon Finance ministers of Lebanon Government ministers of Lebanon Lebanese Arab nationalists Lebanese Sunni Muslims Members of the Parliament of Lebanon People murdered in