[An Nahar] Former prime minister Saad HaririSecond son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
on Friday called on the Arab countries to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the "legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
He probably figures, what the hell? It's already dangerous starting his car.
Hariri warned about "the dangers of the war waged by the Syrian regime against the growing popular revolution across Syria," said a statement released by his press office.
"The military campaign waged by the armed brigades of the Syrian regime against the cities of Homs, Zabadani, Daraa and other cities witnessing popular movements, is a dangerous episode of the bloody series sponsored by international and regional parties that agreed to give Bashir al-Assad the opportunity to pounce on his people and protect his political regime with all brutal methods," Hariri said, as quoted in the statement.
"The Syrian regime has reached the edge of collapse," the ex-PM noted, adding that Assad's government has disregarded "the almost unanimous Arab and international condemnation of the regime and of its crimes."
Hariri said Assad "would not have dared to invade the Syrian cities and villages with tanks and rocket launchers hadn't he received an external cover that allows him to do so."
He called on the Arab countries to take "practical steps that go beyond condemnation, and even beyond imposing economic sanctions."
"They should start by recognizing the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, and pull the rug from under the feet of the brutal regime."