Rashid Karami (; 30 December 1921 – 1 June 1987) was a Lebanese statesman. He is considered one of the most important political figures in Lebanon for more than 30 years, including during much of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), and served as prime minister eight times, according to the Guinness Book of World Records this would make him the most elected democratic prime minister in history. He was assassinated in 1987.
Early life and education
Rashid Karami was born in Tripoli, North Lebanon, on 30 December 1921 into one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni political families. He was the eldest son of Abdul Hamid Karami, an architect of Lebanese independence from France. His father was also the Grand Mufti, or supreme religious judge, of Tripoli, and served as prime minister in 1945. He retained this seat until his death in 1987. In 1953, he was also appointed minister of the economy and social affairs in Abdallah El-Yafi's government.
From 1955 to 1987 Karami held office eight times as prime minister, under every president. These terms were from 1955 to 1956, 1958 to 1960, 1961 to 1964, 1965 to 1966, 1966 to 1968, 1969 to 1970, 1975 to 1976, and from 1984 until his death. Karami was thirty-four years old when he first became prime minister in 1955. He was the minister of defense from 1958 to 1960, 1965, 1975 to 1976. He also served as minister of foreign affairs several times.
He had a stormy relationship with Lebanon's presidents, who appointed him because of his political connections, despite substantial political differences. He was popularly known as a man for all crises because of a penchant of Lebanon's presidents to turn to him in times of major national strife or political upheaval.
The Arab–Israeli conflict
Karami served four more times as prime minister throughout the 1960s. During this time, he championed the Palestinian cause, and is believed to have argued for Lebanon to play a more active role against Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967, a position which was unpopular with many Christians. Increasing clashes between the Lebanese army and the Palestine Liberation Organization forced his resignation in April 1970, but he returned to office in 1975 after an accord had been signed between Lebanon and the PLO. In August that year, however, Suleiman Frangieh, an enemy of Karami, was elected president. Karami resigned and was succeeded by Saeb Salam.
Civil war
The Civil war erupted in Lebanon in April 1975. Multiple factions were involved and the political and military situation was extremely complex, but broadly speaking, the civil war was fought mainly between right-wing, mainly Christian militias (the most prominent of which was the Phalange), and leftist, mainly Muslim militias and their Palestinian allies. Desperate to stabilize the situation, Frangieh dismissed Prime Minister Rashid al-Solh and called on his old adversary Karami to form a government on 1 July. He retreated somewhat from his previous strong support for the Palestinians and supported the Syrian military intervention of June 1976. Despite Karami's political connections and many years of experience, he was unable to end the war, however, and on 8 December 1976 he resigned. Elias Sarkis, who had succeeded Frangieh as president in September 1976, appointed Selim Hoss as the new prime minister.
Karami had his militia in Tripoli. He was reconciled to his old enemy, Suleiman Frangieh, in the late 1970s, after Frangieh had fallen out with the Phalangist militia leader, Bachir Gemayel. Together with Frangieh and Walid Jumblatt, Karami founded the National Salvation Front, pro-Syrian coalition of Sunni Muslim, Druze, and some Christians, mainly in the north of Lebanon in July 1983. The National Salvation Front stood in opposition to the presidency of Amine Gemayel and the pact between Lebanon and Israel that was financially supported by the US.
thumb|Rashid Karami Square in the Southern Lebanese city of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre.]]
On 1 June 1987, Karami was killed when a bomb weighing 300 g, planted behind his seat on the Aérospatiale Puma helicopter he was taking from Tripoli to Beirut, exploded. It was triggered remotely after the helicopter took off from an army airfield; its remote-control trigger had a range of 10 km. Karami was the only one killed in the blast. Interior Minister Abdullah Rasi and at least three other aides and crew members aboard the helicopter were reported wounded. In 1994, Maronite militia leader Samir Geagea was accused of ordering the assassination.
Burial
Rashid Karami is buried in a cemetery in the Bab al Raml neighborhood of Tripoli.
The condolences were received in the International fair of Tripoli, a project designed by Oscar Niemeyer.
Perpetrators
Following the assassination, an unidentified man called a Western news agency in Beirut and claimed responsibility for the killing on behalf of the previously unknown Lebanese Secret Army.
Following the Syrian takeover of Lebanon, the case was weaponized to dismantle the Lebanese Forces (LF). Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, and ten other members, were convicted in a 1999 show trial widely condemned by human rights groups as a politically motivated fabrication by the Syrian-led security apparatus. Following the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of Syrian troops in 2005, the Lebanese Parliament formally acknowledged the injustice and innocence of those convicted, granting Geagea, and the others, a full pardon and exoneration, subsequently releasing them from jail. It has since been suggested, by Ashraf Rifi, that a Syrian officer purposely led Karami to the booby-trapped helicopter to assassinate him. Historians now point to Syrian intelligence as the likely architect, aiming to eliminate a premier who sought independence and to provide a pretext for the imprisonment of the Syrian regime's primary Christian rival.