In February 2005, Shawkat was promoted to Director of Military Intelligence, replacing Hassan Khalil. Shortly before his promotion, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut on 14 February 2005. The size and sophistication of the device used in the blast was considered to have involved a state intelligence agency, and United Nation investigators implicated Shawkat in the plot. In 2006, Shawkat was named a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the US, allowing his assets to be frozen in the US. He was also implicated in the assassination of Imad Mughniyah in Damascus on 12 February 2008. In July 2009, he was dismissed as head of military intelligence, 'thus ridding the regime of the key suspect in the international investigation into Hariri's assassination' given the rank of general and named as deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.