[3][4] He became active in student politics in his early years at university, participating in numerous strikes and demonstrations and in several popular movements.

During the Lebanese Civil War Hawi, who used the kunya-style nom de guerre "Abu Anis", established the Popular Guard, the LCP militia, which was aligned with the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) of Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in its opposition to the Maronite-dominated government and Christian-backed militias.

In 2004, he supported the foundation of the leftist Democratic Left Movement (DLM)[citation needed], that was against the Syrian presence in Lebanon and participated in the Independence Uprising of 2005.

[5] George Hawi was assassinated on 21 June 2005 when a bomb planted in his Mercedes car was detonated by remote control, as he travelled through Beirut's Wata Musaitbi neighbourhood.

[8] Several sources including the March 14 Alliance and members of the Western media immediately blamed Syria for his killing and for the other explosions in the capital though a definitive culprit has yet to be found.

In August 2011, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon informed members of Hawi's family that they had found a link between his murder and that of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.