Journalist Samir Kassir, assassinated on June 2, 2005, in Beirut. Photo taken from the SKEYES center website.
BEIRUT — Several Lebanese political figures paid tribute Monday to Samir Kassir, the former An-Nahar columnist and outspoken critic of the Assad regime, 20 years after his assassination in Beirut.
Kassir, a Lebanese-Syrian-French-Palestinian journalist, was killed in a car bombing in the Achrafieh district on June 2, 2005. He was known for his passionate advocacy of freedom, democracy and Lebanese sovereignty, as well as his sharp criticism of Syrian tutelage over Lebanon. Two decades later, many say his voice still echoes.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam commemorated Kassir’s legacy, writing, “Today, I think of Samir Kassir, his voice, his words, and his pen.” Though Kassir is no longer physically present, Salam said, “his words still resonate.”
The prime minister praised Kassir’s courage, calling him a journalist who “carried the burden of freedom and democracy in the face of tyranny and tutelage,” and who wrote with the “boldness of someone who knows the truth is uncompromising.”
“In tribute to your memory,” Salam added, “I say your words live on in the History of Beirut” — a reference to Kassir’s renowned book — “and that its people continue to protect our city. The jasmine of Damascus has spread its fragrance… and Palestine, which you loved, bleeds from Gaza to Jenin. But hope grows with the hundreds of thousands who raise its flag across the world.”
MP Ashraf Rifi also honored Kassir in a post on X. Quoting Kassir, he wrote: “When the Arab Spring blooms in Beirut, buds blossom in Damascus.” He added, “Lebanon and Syria are emerging from the great prison, and that is the fruit of your struggle, O great martyr, you and your fellow martyrs.” Rifi concluded by declaring, “May your soul rest in peace; the judgment of your killers will come.”
MP Fouad Makhzoumi also paid tribute to “the legacy of a man who dedicated his life to defending freedom and sovereignty and paid with his blood for the right to express himself.” He noted that Kassir had been under surveillance by Lebanese-Syrian intelligence due to his criticism of the Assad regime. “Salute to his soul and to the souls of the martyrs of truth and the nation,” he wrote on X.
A leading figure in the so-called “Beirut Spring” following the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Kassir was among the early architects of the March 14 movement, which opposed Syrian influence in Lebanon. He was assassinated just weeks after Syrian troops withdrew from the country on April 26, 2005 — a departure that marked the beginning of a wave of assassinations and assassination attempts targeting critics of the Assad regime.
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