I. Introduction
1. On 14 February 2005, an explosion in downtown Beirut killed 20 persons, among them the former Prime Minister, Rafik Bahaa-Edine Hariri. Also killed in the explosion were Yahya Mustafa Al-Arab, Mohammad Ben Saad-Eddine Darwish, Talal Nabeeh Nasser, Ziad Mohammad Tarraf, Omar Ahmad Al-Masri, Mohammad Riad Hussein Ghalayeeni, Mazen Adnan Al-Dahabi, Yamama Kamel Dhamen, Haitham Khaled Osman, Alaa Hasan Osfur, Zahi Haleem Abu Rujayli, Joseph Emile Aoun, Rima Mohammad Ra’ef Bezi, Ruad Hussein Haidar, Sobhi Mohammad AlKhedhr, Abdu Tawfik Bu Farah, Abdel-Hameed Mohammad Ghalayeeni, Mahmud Saleh Al-Khalaf and Mohammad Saleh Al-Hamad Al-Mohammad. In addition to those killed, there is one person, Farhan Ahmad Al-Isa, who is still missing and believed to be among the victims. Another 220 persons were injured.
2. On 15 February, the President of the Security Council had issued a statement on behalf of the Council requesting the Secretary-General "to follow closely the situation in Lebanon and to report urgently on the circumstances, causes and consequences of this terrorist act". The Secretary-General announced on 18 February that he was sending a Fact-finding Mission to Beirut to gather such information as was necessary for him to report to the Council in a timely manner. After an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the President of Lebanon, a mission comprising Peter FitzGerald, a Deputy Commissioner of the Irish Police, Garda Siochána, and two police investigators, a legal adviser and a political adviser was sent to Lebanon to gather facts about the causes, circumstances and consequences of the assassination. The Mission was headed by Mr. FitzGerald. Additional experts in explosives, ballistics, DNA and crime scene examination were brought in on 6 March, in agreement with the Lebanese authorities, to examine the crime scene and the samples collected from it.
3. Following its arrival in Beirut on 25 February, the members of the Fact-finding Mission (hereinafter referred to as "the Mission") met with a large number of Lebanese officials and representatives of different political groups, performed a thorough review of the Lebanese investigation and legal proceedings, examined the crime scene and the evidence collected by the local police, collected and analysed samples from the crime scene, and interviewed some witnesses in relation to the crime. Since some of the persons interviewed by the Mission requested anonymity, the present report does not include a full list of the interviewees. The Mission concluded its inquiry in Lebanon on 16 March 2005. This report includes its findings and recommendations.
II. Findings
4. The findings of the Mission fall within three categories as defined by the Security Council: causes, circumstances and consequences.
A. Causes
5. The specific "causes" for the assassination of Mr. Hariri cannot be reliably asserted until after the perpetrators of this crime are brought to justice. However, it is clear that the assassination took place in a political and security context marked
