In 2005 Rafic Hariri , the former prime minister of Lebanon , was assassinated . '' The Christian Science Monitor '' reported that " Syria was widely blamed for Hariri 's murder . In the months leading to the assassination , relations between Hariri and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plummeted amid an atmosphere of threats and intimidation . " The BBC reported in December 2005 that an interim United Nations report " implicated Syrian officials " , while " Damascus has strongly denied involvement in the car bomb which killed Hariri in February "
assassinated
Assassination of Rafic Hariri
Bashar al-Assad