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 assassination. 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.
and Fouad Saniora.
As Shatah was buried in the center of Beirut, mourners chanted "Hizbullah is the enemy of God." The movement's name means "Party of God" in Arabic.
There was little doubt among the mourners that Hizbullah and its Syrian government ally were behind the killing of Shatah and seven other people in Friday's boom-mobileing in the heart of the capital.
Sectarian tensions have soared in Leb since Hizbullah openly intervened in the conflict in neighboring Syria alongside
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's forces earlier this year.
Many Lebanese Sunnis have provided sympathy or support to the mainly Sunni rebels fighting to overthrow him.
Hizbullah and Syria have been accused of a spate of killings of Damascus opponents in Leb since the 2005 liquidation of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Hizbullah targets have been hit by a string of deadly bombings this year, following the intervention in Syria.
"Syria and its allies in Leb, particularly Hizbullah, are the ones who assassinated Shatah, they don't want this country to be peaceful," said 40-year-old teacher Youssef Sati.
Massive rallies and an international outcry that followed Hariri's murder prompted Syria to end a three-decade troop presence in 2005 but many Lebanese complain that the influence of their larger neighbor has never ended.
"Both old and young know that Syria hasn't left Leb," said 57-year-old Susanne Abdel Mejid, an Egyptian married to a Lebanese citizen, who has lived in Leb for 40 years.
"Even if its army withdrew, its henchmen and supporters are still here," she said, wiping away her tears with a white tissue.
Shatah is the ninth high-profile critic of the Syrian regime to be killed in Leb since Hariri's liquidation, and his death serves to remind many Lebanese that no one has been held accountable for those killings.
"We want to punish the criminals. We've lost someone very important," said Ibrahim Allawi, 19, from northern Leb.
"We want to know who the criminal is and make sure they are punished and held accountable."
But there has been little sign of accountability in the string of liquidations that have rocked Leb since 2005.
A U.N.-backed tribunal has spent years investigating the attack that killed Hariri and 22 others, but Hizbullah has refused to hand over the suspects accused by the court.
Instead, five members of the group are to be tried in absentia when the Special Tribunal for Leb convenes in the Netherlands next month.