A representative of Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar lays a wreath on behalf of the minister at Wissam Hassan’s grave in Beirut, on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Credit: NNA)
13 years to the day, the former head of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) intelligence service, Wissam al-Hassan, was assassinated alongside officer Ahmad Sahyouni in a car bomb explosion in Ashrafieh (Beirut) in broad daylight. This assassination, like many others in Lebanon, has never been solved.
At the time, Wissam al-Hassan was leading the Lebanese side of the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who was also killed in a violent explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. He was Hariri’s security chief at the time but was not with him during the attack.
For this 13th commemoration, reactions were numerous on Sunday.
“I remember a brother and companion who gave what he held most dear to defend the state and its institutions, and to seek truth and justice,” wrote former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on his X account. He added: “It is increasingly clear that the project of building a state cannot succeed as long as the assassinations carried out in Lebanon remain unsolved.”
Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar, through a representative, laid a wreath on Wissam al-Hassan’s grave on Sunday. He paid tribute on X, calling to “remain faithful to this exceptional journey in service of the country.”
Several other figures, including MP Ahmad al-Kheir and Secretary-General of the Future Movement Ahmad Hariri, also paid tribute on X to the assassinated security official. Elie Mahfoud, president of the Change Movement, questioned on his X account: “Why is the case of Wissam al-Hassan’s assassination still sitting in drawers? It is more than likely that the details of the assassination are known to some.”
“If the killer’s identity is known, what prevents reopening the case and prosecuting the culprits? It is time to shed light on this attack,” he concluded.
