Here is a look back at events in Lebanon after the country buried slain intelligence officer Wissam al-Hassan amid violent clashes between protesters who want Prime Minister Najib Mikati to quit and security forces. Hassan led the investigation into the 2005 bombing which killed former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri: Feb. 2005 - Rafik al-Hariri, the former premier, is killed, with around 21 others, by a truck bomb in Beirut, piling pressure on Syria to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon. The last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon on April 26. Oct. 2005 - In a report to the U.N. Security Council, the preliminary findings of the international investigation into Hariri's killing implicate high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese officials. Syria denies any role. July 2006 - Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah - which is backed by Iran and Syria - captures two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, setting off a 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel. A U.N. Security Council resolution ends the conflict. Aug. 2008 - On his first visit to Syria as the president of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman agrees with President Bashar al-Assad that their countries will establish diplomatic ties for the first time since independence. June 2009 - An anti-Syrian coalition, led by Saad Hariri, a son of the murdered former premier, defeats Hezbollah and its Christian ally Michel Aoun in parliamentary elections. Hariri forms a new unity government in November. Jan. 2011 - Ministers from Hezbollah and its political allies resign, bringing down Hariri's government. Telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati forms a new government in June dominated by Hezbollah's political allies. July 2012 - The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, established to try suspects in Rafik Hariri's killing names the four men wanted for the murder as Mustafa Amine Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah figure, as well as Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra. Hezbollah denies any role in the killing and says it will refuse to allow the suspects to be arrested. April 2012 - Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon warns Saudis to stay away from Lebanon's border areas, after two Saudi citizens were kidnapped and tortured for eight days, before being freed in a joint Saudi-Lebanese operation. Aug. 2012 - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states advise their citizens to leave Lebanon after a mass kidnapping in retaliation for events in Syria raises fears that violence may be spilling across the region. Sept. 2012 - On a visit to Lebanon, Pope Benedict appeals for a halt to the flow of arms into Syria. Oct. 2012 - Senior Lebanese intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan, who led the investigation that implicated Syria and Hezbollah in the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, is killed with seven others by a car bomb in Beirut. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/56190.aspx
