Assassination of Bachir Gemayel
| Assassination of Bachir Gemayel | |
|---|---|
| Part of The 1982 Lebanon War, The Lebanese Civil War and The Arab-Israeli conflict | |
The Kataeb headquarters after the explosion | |
| Location | Kataeb Party headquarters, Beirut, Lebanon |
| Date | 14 September 1982 14:10 PM |
| Target | Bachir Gemayel † |
Attack type | TNT explosion |
| Weapon | Remote-controlled explosive |
| Deaths | 24, including Bachir Gemayel |
| Injured | 70+ |
| Perpetrators | SSNP-L members Habib Shartouni and Nabil Alam. Allegedly commanded by Hafez Al-Assad |
| Motive | Bashir Gemayel's temporary co-operation with the IDF during the 1982 Lebanon war |
| Convictions | |
| Convicted | Habib Shartouni, sentenced to death in 2011. |
On 14 September 1982, a bomb was detonated during a meeting of the right-wing Kataeb Party (also known as the Phalanges) in the Beirut neighbourhood of Achrafieh. Militia commander and Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel and 23 other Kataeb Party politicians were killed in the attack.
The attack was carried out by Habib Shartouni and allegedly planned by Nabil Alam, both members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). Both men were believed to have acted on instructions of the Syrian government led by president Hafez al-Assad. The next day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) moved to occupy the city, allowing members of the Lebanese Forces militia under the command of Elie Hobeika to enter the centrally located Sabra neighborhood and adjoining Shatila refugee camp. Militia members then massacred between 1,300 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shia Muslims, causing an international uproar.