6月2日，黎巴嫩著名记者卡西尔在首都贝鲁特遭汽车炸弹袭击身亡。事件发生后，黎总理米卡提亲自前往现场视察，并承诺要对这起血案进行彻底调查。外电报道如下：A journalist and leading critic of Syria's hold over Lebanon died in a car bombing Thursday, and the opposition¹ immediately blamed Syria for an assassination² that came during a series of parliamentary elections that could end Damascus' control of the legislature.

Syria denied any involvement in the attack on Samir Kassir, slain³ by a bomb placed under the driver's seat of his car.

Anti-Syrian opposition leaders called for a general strike Friday to protest the killing⁴, carried out even as an international team was investigating the February murder of former Premier⁵ Rafik Hariri, whose death led to the withdrawal⁶ of Syrian troops after nearly three decades in Lebanon.

Slain是slay的过去式，表示“杀害，凶狠地杀死”，此外在俚语中还有“（被笑或爱）淹没，使迷恋，使赞同”等含义，例如：The soldiers slain in the battle were buried that night.（在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲的战士。）Those old jokes still slay⁷ me.（那些古老的笑话仍让我感动。）

据悉，卡西尔是黎巴嫩《白天报》著名记者兼评论家，曾撰写了许多关于维护黎巴嫩主权、要求结束叙利亚在黎驻军的重要文章。消息传出后，美国国务卿赖斯和欧盟负责外交与安全政策的高级代表索拉纳一致谴责此次暗杀事件。赖斯认为暗杀目的显然是想恐吓参加大选的黎巴嫩选民。