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.
on Friday accused Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
of ordering the liquidation of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, chief of the Intelligence Bureau of the Internal Security Forces, condemning the deadly bombing that hit the Ashrafiyeh district in Beirut as a "cowardly terrorist attack against all of Leb and all the Lebanese people."
"I accuse Bashar Hafez Assad of assassinating Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan," said Hariri.
He described al-Hasan as "the guarantor of the security of the Lebanese."
In a statement he issued before news broke out that Hasan was among those killed by the blast, Hariri expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, demanding that the concerned authorities act with "utmost determination and speed to protect the citizens."
"The cowardly terrorist attack which targeted Ashrafiyeh today is an attack against all of Leb and all the Lebanese people. It is a cowardly act against the country's stability and security," he said in a statement.
"As I extend my sincerest condolences to the families of the deaders and my sincerest feelings of solidarity to the families of the maimed and all the people of Ashrafiyeh and Beirut, I demand that the concerned authorities act with utmost determination and speed, and exercise their duty to protect the citizens, their lives and belongings and to strike with an iron fist all those who try to tamper with Leb's stability and security," he added.