{{Short description|Lebanese economist and diplomat}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Mohammad Chatah | honorific_suffix = | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|محمد شطح}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = Mohamad Chatah.jpg | image_size = | caption = | office = Minister of Finance | prime_minister = Fouad Siniora | predecessor = Jihad Azour | successor = Raya Haffar al-Hassan | term_start = 11 July 2008 | term_end = 9 November 2009 | birth_date = 7 March 1951 | birth_place = Tripoli, Lebanon | birth_name = Mohammad Bahaa Chatah | death_date = 27 December 2013 (aged 62) | death_place = Beirut | death_cause = Assassination | resting_place = | party = Future Movement | alma_mater = American University in Beirut<br/>University of Texas | spouse = | children = Ronnie Chatah{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}<br/> Omar Chatah{{citation needed|date=December 2013}} | website = [https://mohamadchatah.blogspot.com Chatah blog] }} <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: thumb|Lebanese Minister of Finance Mohamad Chatah --> '''Mohammad Chatah''' ({{langx|ar|محمد شطح}};<ref name=nl11jul>{{cite news|title=Meet the government|url=https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowspecials/meet_the_government|accessdate=6 March 2013|work=Now Lebanon|date=11 July 2008|archive-date=6 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906114718/https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowspecials/meet_the_government|url-status=dead}}</ref> 7 March 1951 – 27 December 2013) was a Lebanese economist and diplomat.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25524729|title=Beirut blast kills Sunni ex-minister Mohamad Chatah|date=27 December 2013|work=BBC News|accessdate=27 December 2013}}</ref>
==Biography== Chatah was born in Tripoli, Lebanon.<ref name=bbc/> He studied economics at the American University in Beirut and earned a doctorate at the University of Texas in the United States.<ref name=rfisk>{{cite news|author=Robert Fisk|title=Mohamad Chatah - fierce critic of Assad - is murdered in Beirut|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mohamad-chatah--fierce-critic-of-assad--is-murdered-in-beirut-9027578.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220515/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mohamad-chatah--fierce-critic-of-assad--is-murdered-in-beirut-9027578.html |archive-date=15 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=28 December 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=27 December 2013}}</ref><ref name=fikr>{{cite web|title=HE Dr. Mohamad Bahaa Chatah|url=http://fikrconferences.org/en/he-dr-mohamad-bahaa-chatah|work=FIKR|accessdate=28 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718041351/http://arabthought.org/|archive-date=18 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Then he taught economics at his alma mater, University of Texas.<ref name=fikr/>
In 1983 he secured a position with the International Monetary Fund as the deputy to the Executive Director, Dr. Mohamed Finaish.<ref name=enews/> He served as Ambassador to the U.S. from 1997 to 2000. He returned to the IMF in 2001 and stayed until June 2005. Chatah's resignation from the IMF in 2005 coincided with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on 14 February 2005; he returned to Lebanon as a senior adviser to the newly elected Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in August 2005 and served in the post until July 2008.<ref name=fikr/> During the July 2006 war, Chatah appeared on numerous Western news outlets as a public spokesman for the Lebanese government.<ref name=enews/> When asked about the government's role in disarming local armed groups, Chatah said "we are doing it [through] dialogue and persuasion, and trying to reach a point where the state is the sole holder of weapons and the one with the only authority throughout our territory."<ref>[https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lkl/date/2006-07-24/segment/01 War in the Middle East] ''CNN'' (24 July 2006)</ref> He also served as vice-governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon.<ref name=fikr/>
Chatah was named the Minister of Finance of the 70th Lebanese government in July 2008 and held the position to November 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx|title=Former Ministers|date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218051220/http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx|archive-date=18 December 2019}}</ref> He served as foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Saad Hariri from November 2009 to January 2011.<ref>''Associated Press'' (27 December 2013) [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/car-bomb-in-beirut-kills-six-including-senior-anti-assad-lebanese-politician.aspx?PageID=238&NID=60210&NewsCatID=352 Car bomb in Beirut kills six, including senior anti-Assad Lebanese politician] ''Hürriyet Daily News''. Retrieved 29 December 2013</ref> He was affiliated with the Hariri Future Movement, a Sunni political group, although he officially remained an independent figure in national politics.<ref name=enews>{{cite news|title=Mohamad Chatah: death of 'noble figure who believed in dialogue'|url=https://www.euronews.com/2013/12/27/mohamad-chatah-noble-figure-who-believed-in-dialogue/|accessdate=28 December 2013|work=Euronews|date=27 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Beirut car bombing kills top politician|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/12/large-explosion-rips-lebanon-capital-beirut-2013122785524614.html|accessdate=28 December 2013|publisher=Al Jazeera|date=27 December 2013}}</ref>
==Assassination and reactions== {{Main|Assassination of Mohamad Chatah}} At approximately 9:40am on 27 December 2013,<ref name="blame">{{cite news|date=27 December 2013|title=Lebanon: Hezbollah critic Mohamad Chatah's murder blamed on Shia militant movement|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/beirut-bomb-blast-kills-six-including-antiassad-exminister-9027038.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220515/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/beirut-bomb-blast-kills-six-including-antiassad-exminister-9027038.html |archive-date=15 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent}}</ref> a car bomb struck Chatah's convoy<ref name="cnn">{{cite web|url=https://cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/meast/lebanon-explosion/|title=Lebanon's Chatah -- friend of U.S., enemy of Assad, Hezbollah -- killed|date=27 December 2013|publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mohamad-chatah-lebanese-ex-minister-killed-in-beirut-bombing-1.2476861|title=Mohamad Chatah, Lebanese ex-minister, killed in Beirut bombing|date=27 December 2013|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> in the Central District of Beirut, Lebanon.<ref name=bbc/> The bombing killed a total of eight people, among them Chatah, and injured seventy others.<ref name="deathtoll">{{cite journal|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-29/242571-beirut-bombing-death-toll-rises-to-eight.ashx|title=Beirut bombing death toll rises to eight|date=29 December 2013|journal=The Daily Star|access-date=16 January 2014|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117035642/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-29/242571-beirut-bombing-death-toll-rises-to-eight.ashx|url-status=dead}}</ref> The bomb "was estimated to weigh more than 50 kilograms and was placed inside a stolen Honda car."<ref name="blame"/> The attack has been described as a political assassination of Chatah.<ref name="reuters">{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-beirut-bomb-idUSBRE9BQ01H20131227|title=Beirut bomb kills Lebanese ex-minister who opposed Assad|date=27 December 2013|work=Reuters}}</ref> Later this bombing along with other political assassinations were linked to Unit 121, executing Hezbollah's policy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramadan |first=Tala |date=2021 |title=Lebanon's growing list of assassinations: A historical perspective |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2021/02/07/Lebanon-crisis-Lebanon-s-growing-list-of-assassinations-a-historical-perspective}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Levitt |first=Matthew |date=2023 |title=Episode 8: Hezbollah Assassinations Unit 121 |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/6965}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mohamad Chatah, R.I.P. {{!}} Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/mohamad-chatah-rip |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=www.cfr.org |language=en}}</ref>
The US President Barack Obama and the Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the assassination of Chatah and described it as a terrorist attack on 27 December.<ref>{{cite web|title=Terrorist Attack and Assassination of Mohamad Chatah|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/12/219128.htm|work=US Department of State|accessdate=28 December 2013|date=27 December 2013}}</ref>
==Publications== *[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/May-11/173004-offshore-gas-belongs-to-the-lebanese-so-let-them-see-the-money.ashx Offshore gas belongs to the Lebanese, so let them see the money] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120513160253/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/May-11/173004-offshore-gas-belongs-to-the-lebanese-so-let-them-see-the-money.ashx#axzz1ulZKUPdg Archived version]) *[http://www.lebtivity.com/event/autumn-secret-rural-days-lunch Mohamad Chatah's Blog]
==See also== * List of assassinated Lebanese politicians
==References== {{Reflist|33em}}
==External links== *[https://mohamadchatah.blogspot.com Personal blog] *{{Commons-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatah, Mohamad}} Category:1951 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Politicians from Tripoli, Lebanon Category:Lebanese Sunni politicians Category:American University of Beirut alumni Category:University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty Category:International Monetary Fund people Category:Ambassadors of Lebanon to the United States Category:Finance ministers of Lebanon Category:Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon Category:Assassinated Lebanese politicians Category:21st-century Lebanese politicians Category:Mass murder victims Category:Deaths by car bomb in Lebanon Category:Lebanese officials of the United Nations Category:Future Movement politicians Category:20th-century Lebanese diplomats Category:21st-century Lebanese diplomats Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 2010s Category:Politicians assassinated in 2013 Category:Deaths by explosive device