Report of the International
Independent Investigation Commission Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1595 (2005)

Detlev Mehlis
Commissioner UNIIIC
Beirut
19 October 2005

1.         The Security Council, by its resolution 1595 of 7 April 2005, decided to establish an international independent investigation Commission based in Lebanon to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of all aspects of the terrorist attack which took place on 14 February 2005 in Beirut that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and others, including to help identify its perpetrators, sponsors, organizers and accomplices.

2.         The Secretary-General notified the Council that the Commission began its full operations with effect from 16 June 2005. The Commission was granted an extension to the initial period of investigation mandated by the Council, until 26 October 2005.

3.         During the course of its investigation, the Commission received extensive support from the Government of Lebanon and benefited from expert inputs from a number of national and international entities.

4.         The main lines of investigation of the Commission focused on the crime scene, technical aspects of the crime, analysis of telephone intercepts, the testimony of more than 500 witnesses and sources, as well as the institutional context in which the crime took place.

5.         The full case file of the investigation was transmitted to the Lebanese authorities during October 2005. 

6.         The present report sets out the main lines of enquiry of the investigation conducted by the Commission, its observations thereon, and its conclusions, for the consideration of the Security Council. It also identifies those matters on which further investigation may be necessary.

7.         It is the Commission’s view that the assassination of 14 February 2005 was carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources and capabilities. The crime had been prepared over the course of several months. For this purpose, the timing and location of Mr. Rafik Hariri’s movements had been monitored and the itineraries of his convoy recorded in detail.

8.         Building on the findings of the Commission and Lebanese investigations to date and on the basis of the material and documentary evidence collected, and the leads pursued until now, there is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act. It is a well known fact that Syrian Military Intelligence had a pervasive presence in Lebanon at the least until the withdrawal of the Syrian forces pursuant to resolution 1559. The former senior security officials of Lebanon were their appointees. Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services working in tandem, it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge. 

9.         It is the Commission’s conclusion that the continuing investigation should be carried forward by the appropriate Lebanese judicial and security authorities, who have proved during the investigation that with international assistance and support, they can move ahead and at times take the lead in an effective and professional manner. At the same time, the Lebanese authorities should look into all the case’s ramifications including bank transactions. The 14 February explosion needs to be assessed clearly against the sequence of explosions which preceded and followed it, since there could be links between some, if not all, of them.

10.       The Commission is therefore of the view that a sustained effort on the part of the international community to establish an assistance and cooperation platform together with the Lebanese authorities in the field of security and justice is essential. This will considerably boost the trust of the Lebanese people in their security system, while building self-confidence in their capabilities.

 

Table of Contents                                                         Para           Page

Chronology of events; mid 2004 – september 2005 ……     i - ii

I.             Preface …………………………………………….  1-22           1-5

II.            background …………………………………….     23-35        5-10

III.          The Crime ……………………………………………  36-38          10

IV.          The Lebanese Investigation ……………………39-86     11-26

V.           The Commission’s Investigation ……………….87-202  26-52

VI.          Conclusions …………………………..                  203-211    52-53

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, MID 2004 – SEPTEMBER 2005

2004

§       26 August 2004, Rafik Hariri meets in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss the extension of the term of President Lahoud.

§       2 September 2004, the United Nations Security Council adopts resolution 1559 concerning the situation in the Middle East, calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.

§       3 September 2004, the Rafik Hariri bloc approves the extension law for President Lahoud.

§       3 September 2004, the Lebanese parliament adopts the extension law for President Lahoud and forwards it to the Lebanese government for execution.

§       7 September 2004, Economy Minister Marwan Hamadeh, Culture Minister Ghazi Aridi, Minister of Refugee Affairs Abdullah Farhat and Environment Minister Fares Boueiz, resigned from the cabinet in protest at the constitutional amendment.

§       9 September 2004, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri indicates to journalists that he will resign.

§       1 October 2004, Assassination attempt on Marwan Hamadeh, in Beirut, Lebanon.

§       4 October 2004, Rafik Hariri resigns as prime minister.

§       11 October 2004, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech condemning his critics within Lebanon and the United Nations.

§       19 October 2004, United Nations Security Council expresses concern that resolution 1559 has not been implemented.

§       20 October 2004, President Lahoud accepts Hariri’s resignation and names Omar Karame to form the new government.

2005

§       14 February 2005, Rafik Hariri and 22 other individuals are killed in a massive blast in a seafront area of central Beirut.

§       25 February 2005, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission arrives in Lebanon.

§       8 March 2005, Hezbollah organizes a one million strong “pro-Syrian” march.

§       14 March 2005, a Christian/Sunni-led counter demonstration demands the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the arrest of the chief of the security and intelligence services.

§       19 March 2005, a bomb explodes in Jdeideh, a northern suburb of Beirut, wounding 11 people.

§       23 March 2005, three people are killed and three others wounded in an explosion in the Kaslik shopping centre, north of Beirut.

§       25 March 2005, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission issues its report in New York.

§       26 March 2005, a suitcase bomb explodes in an industrial zone in northeast Beirut, injuring six.

§       1 April 2005, nine people are injured in an underground garage in an empty commercial and residential building in Broumana.

§       7 April 2005, the Security Council forms the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission into the assassination of Rafik Hariri and 22 others on 14 February 2005.

§       19 April 2005, Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati announces that parliamentary elections will be held on 30 May 2005.

§       22 April 2005, General Jamil Al-Sayyed, head of the Internal Security Forces and General Ali Al-Hajj, head of the Sûreté Générale, decide to put their functions at the disposal of Prime Minister Najib al Makati.

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