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.had to resign as Leb’s prime minister, it has to be realized that Hezbollah controls around 25 percent of that country’s territory and that its militia has grown more powerful than the Lebanese army.
The level of interference by both Hezbollah and Syria in Lebanese politics at the behest of the Iranian regime, particularly Hezbollah’s proven record of assassinating those speaking out against it or its Syrian and Iranian patrons, must have been a major cause behind Saad Hariri’s decision to leave the country before announcing his resignation.
Iran’s terror proxy
As far as Hezbollah is concerned, the area it controls within Leb is virtually a state within a state. Due to the introduction of well-constructed social programs, Hezbollah has managed to maintain a very strong grassroots support amongst the local Shia population. But behind its facade of social programs, the terrorist group has an ulterior motive.
Able to collect its own taxes, it is also well funded by Iran. Having vast resources for setting up health clinics, hospitals, and centres to assist orphans and widows, as well as for running schools with syllabi similar to those in Iran, it has helped Tehran to gain a firm foothold in the country, as well as to keep its followers close.
Beneath the cover of running social programs, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has infiltrated its men into many of Hezbollah’s institutions, allowing it to penetrate the local society.