Second 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.
stressed on Wednesday that only Israel, Iran and Hizbullah along with the current government are defending the Syrian regime, reiterating his call on
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
to leave power.
This is the sort of thing that passes for "thinking" in the Muddle East.
"Don't you see that now Israel and Iran and Hizbullah and this government are defending the Syrian regime?" Hariri said on the social networking website twitter.
He said that the cabinet will have to collapse eventually, adding that Speaker Nabih
KnobbyBerri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
's warning of a civil war is merely to scare people.
"I think this government should go down, and we will bring it down ... the position given by Berri is to the benefit of the Syrian regime to scare people."
Concerning Hizbullah's arms, Hariri said that only the army should carry weapons urging the party to disarm.
"Weapons have no business being anywhere but in the hands of the Lebanese army," he said.
Asked by a twitter user about the kabooms that hit Tyre on Wednesday, the former PM said: "I think it's a political message and that's why the security forces should be in control of the whole of Leb."
Responding to a question if he might go into an alliance with PM
Najib Miqati during the 2013 elections, Hariri said "No."The former premier has been absent from the country for nearly eight months and has chosen Twitter as a comeback tool to reach out to followers and take on his rivals Syria and Hizbullah.
He left Leb in April after the March 8 forces
... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commemoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ...
toppled his cabinet, and popped up on Twitter earlier this month, creating an instant buzz and attracting some 25,000 followers so far.
Since then, he has devoted more than an hour every evening to respond to questions about politics, food, movies or sports, much to the delight of his constituents but also to jabs by detractors.