Rafic Hariri

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Lebanon (1992–1998; 2000–2004)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | native_name = {{nobold|رفيق الحريري}} | image = Visit of Rafic Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister, to the EC P010848002H (cropped).jpg | caption = Hariri in 2004 | order = | office = 41st and 43rd Prime Minister of Lebanon | term_start = 26 October 2000 | term_end = 26 October 2004 | president = Émile Lahoud | predecessor = Selim Hoss | successor = Omar Karami | deputy = Issam Fares | president2 = Elias Hrawi<br>Émile Lahoud | term_start2 = 31 October 1992 | term_end2 = 4 December 1998 | successor2 = Selim Hoss | predecessor2 = Rachid Solh | office3 = Ministerial portfolios | subterm3 = 1992-1998 | suboffice3 = Finance | office4 = Member of the Parliament of Lebanon | constituency4 = Beirut | term_start4 = 20 October 1992 | term_end4 = 14 February 2005 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1944|11|1|df=yes}} | birth_place = Sidon, Lebanon | death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|2|14|1944|11|1|df=yes}} | death_place = Beirut, Lebanon | death_cause = Assassination | party = {{plainlist| * Future }} | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Nidal Bustani|1965|1974|reason = divorce}} * {{marriage|Nazik Hariri|1976}} }} | children = Bahaa, Saad, Houssam, Ayman, Fahd, Hind }}

{{Hariri family sidebar}}'''Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri'''{{efn|''Rafic'' is the spelling used on his website and in official contexts, with '''Rafik''' and '''Rafiq''' also being used in English-language media.}} ({{langx|ar|رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري|translit=Rafīq Bahāʾ ad-Dīn al-Ḥarīrī}}; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004.

Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenure. He was widely credited for his role in constructing the Taif Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. He also played a huge role in reconstructing the Lebanese capital, Beirut. He was the first post-civil war prime minister and the most influential and wealthiest Lebanese politician at the time. During Hariri's first term as prime minister, tensions between Israel and Lebanon increased, as a result of the Qana massacre. In 2000, during his second premiership, his biggest achievement was the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, ending an 18-year old occupation, while his government solidified relations with Ba'athist Syria.

On 14 February 2005, Hariri was assassinated in a suicide truck bomb explosion in Beirut. Four Hezbollah members of Unit 121 were indicted for the assassination and were tried ''in absentia'' by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Salim Ayyash, the unit's leader was convicted for his role in the assassination.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> The Tribunal eventually convicted three Hezbollah members before its closure in 2023, but stated that it could find no evidence that the bombing had been directed by the group's senior leadership.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=18 August 2020|title=Rafik Hariri tribunal: Guilty verdict over assassination of Lebanon ex-PM|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53601710}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2023-12-31 |title=Justice served: Lebanon's Special Tribunal closes {{!}} UN News |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1145217 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=news.un.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-03-10 |title=Rafik Hariri killing: Hezbollah duo convicted of 2005 bombing on appeal |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-60691507 |access-date=2025-02-11 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The assassination was a catalyst for dramatic political change in Lebanon. The massive protests of the Cedar Revolution helped achieve the withdrawal of Syrian troops and security forces from Lebanon and a change in government.

At one point, Hariri was one of the world's 100 wealthiest men<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=BBC|access-date=18 August 2020|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/910166.stm|title=Rafik Hariri: Billionaire politician}}</ref> and the fourth-richest politician.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2002/Mar-13/8688-forbes-says-hariri-ranks-fourth-among-wealthy-politicians.ashx|title=Forbes says Hariri ranks fourth among wealthy politicians|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=18 August 2020}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Hariri was born on 1 November 1944 to a modest Sunni Muslim family in the Lebanese port city of Sidon. He had two siblings (brother Shafic and sister Bahia).<ref name="Foundation">{{cite web |title=Rafiq Al Hariri's biography |url=https://rhf.org.lb/en/node/1759 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808171512/https://rhf.org.lb/en/node/1759 |archive-date=8 August 2020 |access-date=30 September 2020 |work=Rafiq Hariri Foundation}}</ref> He attended elementary and secondary school in Sidon,<ref name=Foundation/> and graduated in business administration from Beirut Arab University.

==Business career== In 1965, Hariri went to Saudi Arabia to work.<ref name="Rafik Hariri NYT"/> There, he taught for a short period of time before moving to the construction industry.<ref name="Rafik Hariri, Ex-Premier of Lebanon, Dies at 60"/> In 1978, he gained Saudi Arabian citizenship,<ref name="Rafik Hariri NYT"/><ref name=gary2001july>{{cite journal|last=Gambill|first=Gary C.|author2=Ziad K. Abdelnour |title=Dossier: Rafiq Hariri|journal=Middle East Intelligence Bulletin|date=July 2001|volume=3|issue=7|url=http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0107_ld1.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140508004255/http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0107_ld1.htm|archive-date= 8 May 2014 }}</ref> in addition to his Lebanese citizenship.

In 1969, Hariri established Ciconest, a small subcontracting firm, which soon went out of business. He then went into business with the French construction firm Oger for the construction of a hotel in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, the timely construction of which earned him praise from King Khaled. Hariri took over Oger, forming Saudi Oger, which became the main construction firm used by the Saudi Royal family for all their important developments. As a result, a few years after his first contract with King Khaled, Hariri had become a multi-billionaire.

Having accumulated his wealth, Hariri started a number of philanthropic projects, including the building of educational facilities in Lebanon. His first initiative in Lebanon was the Islamic Association for Culture and Education, which he founded in 1979.<ref name=mermay>{{cite journal|title=Lebanon's Politics: The Sunni Community and Hariri's Future Current|journal=Middle East Report|date=26 May 2010|issue=96|url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iraq%20Syria%20Lebanon/Lebanon/96%20Lebanons%20Politics%20-%20The%20Sunni%20Community%20and%20Hariris%20Future%20Current.ashx|access-date=22 September 2013}}</ref> The association was later renamed the Hariri Foundation.<ref name=mermay/> Hariri became progressively more embroiled in politics. His appeals to the United Nations and services as an emissary to the Saudi Royal family won him international recognition on the political stage for his humanitarian efforts.

In 1982, Hariri donated $12 million to Lebanese victims of the 1978 South Lebanon conflict and helped clean up Beirut's streets with his company's money and contributed to early reconstruction efforts during lulls in the Lebanon war. Said to have heavily financed opposing militias during the war, his former deputy Najah Wakim later accused him of helping to destroy downtown Beirut to rebuild it again and make billions of dollars in the process.<ref name=gary2001july/> After the conflict, he acted as an envoy of the Saudi royal family to Lebanon. He laid the groundwork that led to the 1989 Taif Accord, which Saudi Arabia organised to bring the warring factions together. Taif put an end to the civil war, building goodwill for Hariri politically. While acting as the Saudi envoy to Lebanon, he spent more time in Damascus than in Beirut where he ingratiated himself with the Assad regime; he had a new presidential palace built in Damascus as a gift to the Syrian dictator but Assad didn't use it personally.<ref name=gary2001july/>

==Political career== Hariri returned to Lebanon in the early 1980s as a wealthy man and began to build a name for himself by making large donations and contributions to various groups in Lebanon. However, he continued to serve as a political advisor to Prince Bandar bin Sultan in 1983.<ref name=saad9july>{{cite news|last=Mehio|first=Saad|title=Prime Minister Alwaleed bin Talal? For what?|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Jul/09/Prime-Minister-Alwaleed-bin-Talal-For-what.ashx#axzz2ZQEiKeb1|access-date=18 July 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=9 July 2002}}</ref> He was implanted as the Saudis' strong man following the collapse of the PLO and the paucity of any viable Sunni leadership in the country as well as a response to the rising power of the Shiite militia Amal. As a former Saudi diplomatic representative, he played a significant role in constructing the 1990 Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon's sixteen-year civil war.<ref name=neal>{{cite journal|last=Neal|first=Mark W.|author2=Richard Tansey |title=The dynamics of effective corrupt leadership: Lessons from Rafik Hariri's political career in Lebanon|journal=The Leadership Quarterly|year=2010|volume=21|pages=33–49|doi=10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.10.003}}</ref> In 1992, Hariri became the first post-civil war prime minister of Lebanon under president Elias Hrawi.<ref name=mer>{{cite book|title=Middle East Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYszJtC66FAC&pg=PA113|access-date=19 March 2013|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|isbn=978-0-7494-4066-4|pages=113|date=November 2003}}</ref><ref name=are2007>{{cite journal|last=Knudsen|first=Are|title=The Law, the Loss and the Lives of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon|journal=CMI|year=2007|volume=1|url=http://bora.cmi.no/dspace/bitstream/10202/24/1/WP%202007-1.pdf|access-date=20 March 2013}}</ref> In addition, he was the minister of finance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218051220/http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 December 2019|title=Former Ministers|date=18 December 2019}}</ref> After the 1996 elections he also took on the role of minister of post and telecommunications.<ref>Middle East International No 538, 22 November 1996; Publishers Lord Mayhew; George Trendle p.14</ref> Hariri put the country back on the financial map through the issuing of Eurobonds and won plaudits from the World Bank for his plan to borrow reconstruction money as the country's debt grew to become the largest per capita in the world. Between 1992 and 1996 the public debt grew from $3 billion to $9 billion.<ref>Middle East International No 540, 20 December 1996; George Trendle p.15</ref> His first premiership lasted until 1998, and Hariri was replaced by Salim Hoss as prime minister.<ref name="gary2001july" /><ref name="mer" /> In fact, as a result of the power struggle between Hariri and newly elected president Émile Lahoud, he left office.<ref name="fakih23feb">{{cite journal|last=Fakih|first=Mohalhel|title=A city mourns|journal=Al Ahram Weekly|date=17–23 February 2005|volume=730|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/730/re21.htm|access-date=15 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325062137/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/730/re21.htm|archive-date=25 March 2013}}</ref>

In October 2000, Hariri was again appointed prime minister, replacing Salim Hoss, and formed the cabinet.<ref name=gary2001july/><ref name=aps28oct>{{cite news|title=Hariri Forms Govt|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEBANON+-+Oct.+26+-+Hariri+Forms+Govt.-a073739516|access-date=19 March 2013|work=APS Diplomat Recorder|date=28 October 2000}}</ref> In September 2004, Hariri defended UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called for "all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon."<ref name=mak2010>{{cite journal|last=Makhzoumi|first=Fouad|title=Lebanon's Crisis of Sovereignty|journal=Survival: Global Politics and Strategy|year=2010|volume=52|issue=2|pages=5–12|doi=10.1080/00396331003764298|s2cid=153822060}}</ref> On 20 October 2004, his second term ended when he resigned from office.<ref name=har05sum>{{cite journal|last=Harris|first=William|title=Bashar al-Assad's Lebanon Gamble|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Summer 2005|volume=XII|issue=3|pages=33–44|url=http://www.meforum.org/730/bashar-al-assads-lebanon-gamble|access-date=17 March 2013}}</ref> Omar Karami succeeded him as prime minister.<ref name=safa06jan/><ref name=lwire27oct>{{cite news|title=Hezbollah ignored as Lebanon's top three leaders get major government shares|url=http://www.lebanonwire.com/0410/04102702LW.asp|access-date=25 March 2013|work=Lebanon Wire|date=27 October 2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321231112/http://lebanonwire.com/0410/04102702LW.asp|archive-date=21 March 2013}}</ref>

== First premiership (1992–1998) ==

=== Economic policies === thumbnail|Hariri's former residence in Paris [[File:Beirut Central District Collage.jpg|thumb|Beirut Central District, which was developed significantly under Hariri's tenure as Prime Minister. ]] Hariri implemented an aggressive new economic policy. In 1992, inflation was running at 131% but such was the confidence in Hariri's leadership that within two years it had been reduced to 12%.<ref>Middle East International No 535, 4 October 1996; Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Bassam Fattouh and Reinoud Leenders pp.19–20</ref> Perhaps Hariri's most important creation in the beginning of his career was "Horizon 2000", the government's name for its new rejuvenation plan. A large component of "Horizon 2000" was Solidere, the privately owned<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.solidere.com/solidere.html |title=''About Solidere'' |publisher=Solidere.com |access-date=4 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116054209/http://www.solidere.com/solidere.html |archive-date=16 January 2013}}</ref> construction company that was established to reconstruct post-war Lebanon. Solidere was owned by the government and private investors. Solidere was largely focused on redeveloping Beirut's downtown and turning it into a new urban center as quickly as possible as one aspect of the various infrastructure redevelopment plans that would be implemented by "Horizon 2000". Solidere was given powers of compulsory purchase, compensating in Solidere shares rather than cash, and was accused of harassment and underpaying former land owners.<ref name=guardian-20150122>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/22/beirut-lebanon-glitzy-downtown-redevelopment-gucci-prada |title=Is Beirut's glitzy downtown redevelopment all that it seems? |last=Wainwright |first=Oliver |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 January 2015 |access-date=18 August 2020}}</ref> Another aspect of the decade-long plan was the privatization of major industries. Numerous contracts were awarded in important industries such as energy, telecommunications, electricity, airports, and roads.

The last and perhaps most significant aspect of "Horizon 2000" was economic stimulus via foreign direct investment. Specifically, Hariri supported foreign firms and individuals taking an interest in Lebanon's developmental potential. Hariri simplified tax codes and provided tax breaks to foreign investors. Due to his previous successes in the private sector and the numerous resulting international connections, Hariri was able to garner a significant amount of low-interest loans from foreign investors. Hariri also pursued aggressive macroeconomic policy such as maintaining strict regulations on bank reserves and inter-bank interest rates to curb inflation and raise the value of the Lebanese pound relative to the dollar.

Hariri's economic policies were a remarkable success during his first year in office. From 1992 to 1993, there was a 6% increase in real national income, the capital base of commercial banks effectively doubled, the budgetary earnings hovered at around a billion dollars, and commercial banks' consolidated balance sheets increased about 25%. By 1998, however, real GDP growth was around 1%, a year later it would be −1%, national debt had skyrocketed 540% from two to eighteen billion dollars.

In 1996, it was estimated that 30% of Lebanon's population were living below the poverty line and that there were 500,000 Syrian laborers working illegally in the country.<ref>Middle East International No 535; pp.19–20</ref>

=== Criticism === August 11, 1994, the Hariri government issued a ban on organized demonstrations, relying on the Lebanese Army to enforce the decree.<ref name="Lebanon's vast web of corruption unravels" /><ref name="corruption-nation" /> According to Human Rights Watch, following the demonstration ban, on September 13, 1994, "army troops used force to disperse demonstrations, with disastrous results: seven men and one woman were killed and about forty other peaceful demonstrators injured."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lebanon |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Middle-08.htm#P460_235890 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241229113544/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Middle-08.htm#P460_235890 |archive-date=2024-12-29 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> On 17 September 1996, Information Minister Farid Makari ordered a ban on the broadcasting of news programs. This was followed eight days later by a government decree ordering the closure of Lebanon's 150 privately owned radio stations and 50 TV stations. Licenses were then issued to Hariri's Future Television, the Christian-owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), Murr Television (MTV) owned by the brother of Interior Minister Michel Murr, and the National Broadcasting Network (NBN), set up by Nabih Berri. The radio stations which were given licenses were Hariri's Orient Radio, Berri's NBN, and the Lebanese Forces’s Voice of Free Lebanon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1996 Human Rights Report: Lebanon |url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/global/human_rights/1996_hrp_report/lebanon.html |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=United States State Department}}</ref><ref>Middle East International No 535, 4 October 1996; Giles Trendle p.16</ref> The following year, however, "the cabinet handed out licenses to one television station and eight radio stations, including Hizballah's Al-Manar TV, Voice of Lebanon (formerly owned by the Phalange party), and Voice of the People (Communist Party)." These groups had been previously excluded from licensing in September 1996.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Committee to Protect Journalists |date=February 1998 |title=Attacks on the Press in 1997 - Lebanon |url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/cpj/1998/en/54383 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241229114306/https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/cpj/1998/en/54383 |archive-date=2024-12-29 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref> According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the ongoing Syrian occupation and military presence in Lebanon made it difficult for Lebanese media to criticize the Syrian regime, adding that "Syria's continued dominant political and military influence" created an atmosphere of self-censorship.<ref name=":1" />

== Second premiership (2000—2004) ==

=== Hariri and Lebanon's political environment === [[Image:Rafik_Hariri_George_W._Bush.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. President George W. Bush and Hariri meeting in the White House]] [[File:Defense.gov News Photo 010425-D-2987S-027.jpg|thumb|Hariri meeting with Donald Rumsfeld at The Pentagon on April 25, 2001]] [[File:Vladimir Putin 2 November 2001-2.jpg|left|thumb|Hariri with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001]] Amid the political crisis brought on by the extension of President Émile Lahoud's term, Hariri resigned as prime minister, saying: "I have... submitted the resignation of the government, and I have declared that I will not be a candidate to head the (next) government."

During a BBC interview in 2001, Hariri was asked by Tim Sebastian why he refused to hand over members of Hezbollah that were accused by America of being terrorists. He responded that Hezbollah were the ones protecting Lebanon against the Israeli occupation and called for implementation of passed United Nations resolutions against Israel.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=BBC Interview With Rafiq Hariri' |url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8295.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610122211/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8295.htm |archive-date=10 June 2011 |access-date=4 July 2011 |work=Information clearing house}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news |date=16 February 2005 |title=Rafiq Hariri' |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4270601.stm |access-date=4 July 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

During the interview, Sebastian also accused Hariri of making the American coalition in the war on terrorism worthless and asked if he was ready for the consequences of his refusal, reminding him that George W. Bush had said: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2001/sep_2001/bush_congress_address_21901.htm|title="You Are Either With Us Or with the Terrorists", President Bush Warns|work=Iran press service|access-date=4 July 2011|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231843/http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2001/sep_2001/bush_congress_address_21901.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hariri replied that he had hoped there would be no consequences, but would deal with them if they arrive. He also said that he opposed the killing of all humans – Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian or Lebanese – and believed in dialogue as a solution. He further went on to say that Syria would have to stay in Lebanon for protection of Lebanon until they are no longer needed and Lebanon asks them to leave.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Opposition to Syrian occupation === Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a recent recruit of the anti-Syrian opposition, emboldened by popular anger and civic action now being called Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, alleged in the wake of the assassination that on 26 August 2004 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened Hariri, saying "<nowiki>[</nowiki>President of Lebanon<nowiki>]</nowiki> Lahoud is me. ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon."<ref>{{cite news|author=Neil Macfarquhar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/international/middleeast/20lebanon.html?ei=5094&en=441b692d8c0ef46a&hp=&ex=1111294800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all&position=|title=Behind Lebanon Upheaval, 2 Men's Fateful Clash|location=Lebanon; Syria|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=4 July 2011|date=20 March 2005}}</ref> He was quoted as saying "When I heard him telling us those words, I knew that it was his condemnation of death." This meeting between Hariri and Assad, which had been on 26 August 2004, lasted for just fifteen minutes.<ref name=safa06jan>{{cite journal|last=Safa|first=Oussama|title=Lebanon springs forward|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=January 2006|volume=17|issue=1|pages=22–37|doi=10.1353/jod.2006.0016|s2cid=143710565|url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Safa-17-1.pdf|access-date=17 March 2013|archive-date=27 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227090433/http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Safa-17-1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=raad27aug>{{cite news|last=Raad|first=Nada|title=Berri, Hariri silent on Syria talks|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Aug/27/Berri-Hariri-silent-on-Syria-talks.ashx#axzz2NbofFgrl|access-date=16 March 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=27 August 2004}}</ref><ref name=seeberg07>{{cite web|last=Seeberg|first=Peter|title=Fragmented loyalties. Nation and Democracy in Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution|url=http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles/Files/Om_SDU/Centre/C_Mellemoest/Videncenter/Working_papers/08WP2007PS1.pdf|publisher=University of Southern Denmark|access-date=23 October 2012|format=Working Papers|date=February 2007|archive-date=4 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104100612/http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles/Files/Om_SDU/Centre/C_Mellemoest/Videncenter/Working_papers/08WP2007PS1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Criticism === thumb|Hariri and Rumsfeld in 2002Hariri was accused of corruption, which plagued Lebanon during the Syrian occupation. The Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut's Central District (French: ''Société Libanaise pour le Développement et la Reconstruction du Centre-ville de Beyrouth''), more commonly known by the French-derived acronym "Solidere", expropriated most property in the central business district of Beirut, compensating each owner with shares in the company which were worth as little as 15% of the property's value. As the primary shareholder of the company, Hariri and his business associates profited from this project.<ref name="Lebanon's vast web of corruption unravels" /><ref name="corruption-nation">{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070305/ciezadlo|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090701151610/http%3A//www%2Ethenation%2Ecom/doc/20070305/ciezadlo |archive-date= 1 July 2009 |title=Sect Symbols|last=Ciezadlo|first=Annia|date=24 February 2007|newspaper=The Nation|access-date=25 June 2011|location=New York City}}</ref> Moreover, it was reported by ''Middle East International in'' November 1996 that $26 million had been embezzled from the Lebanese Ministry of Finance while Hariri was in office.<ref>Middle East International No 538, 22 November 1996; George Trendle p.14</ref> Hariri was accused of allowing kickbacks from public spending to enrich government figures. For instance, contracts for the import of petroleum were awarded to the two sons of President Elias Hrawi.<ref name="Lebanon's vast web of corruption unravels" /><ref name="corruption-nation" />

==Personal life== Hariri married twice. He had six children. In 1965, he married an Iraqi woman, Nidal Bustani, who is the mother of his three sons; Bahaa (born 1967), who is a businessman, Saad (born 1970), who succeeded his father as leader of the future movement, and Houssam—who died in a traffic accident in the US in the late 1980s.<ref name=medpol/><ref>{{cite news|last= Fisk|first= Robert| author-link =Robert Fisk|title= Syria mourns death of a 'golden son'|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/syria-mourns-death-of-a-golden-son-basil-assads-fatal-car-crash-throws-open-the-question-of-who-will-succeed-the-president-writes-robert-fisk-in-beirut-1408555.html|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130826221018/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/syria-mourns-death-of-a-golden-son-basil-assads-fatal-car-crash-throws-open-the-question-of-who-will-succeed-the-president-writes-robert-fisk-in-beirut-1408555.html|archive-date=26 August 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=22 January 1994|location=London}}</ref> They divorced. He married his second spouse, Nazik Audi, in 1976 and she is the mother of three of Hariri's children: Ayman, Fahd and Hind.<ref name=medpol>{{cite journal|last=Vloeberghs|first=Ward|title=The Hariri Political Dynasty after the Arab Spring|journal=Mediterranean Politics|date=July 2012|volume=17|issue=2|pages=241–248 |url=http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/72/15/67/PDF/The_Hariri_Political_Dynasty_after_the_Arab_Spring_Vloeberghs_2012_HALSHS.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130131172934/http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/72/15/67/PDF/The_Hariri_Political_Dynasty_after_the_Arab_Spring_Vloeberghs_2012_HALSHS.pdf|archive-date= 31 January 2013|url-status=live|doi=10.1080/13629395.2012.694046|s2cid=154581954}}</ref>

From 1982 until his death, Hariri owned 2–8a Rutland Gate, a large house in London's Knightsbridge district. The house was gifted to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, after Hariri's assassination.<ref name=FTSep12>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/d6f7ea5a-fcca-11e1-9dd2-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6f7ea5a-fcca-11e1-9dd2-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Hyde Park mansion on sale for £300 million|author=Ed Hammond and Sally Gainsbury|date=12 September 2012|work=The Financial Times|access-date=28 October 2015}}</ref>

==Assassination== {{Main|Assassination of Rafic Hariri}} thumb|upright|Buildings damaged by the car bomb|left On 14 February 2005, Hariri was killed when explosives equivalent to around {{convert|1800|kg}} of TNT concealed inside a parked Mitsubishi van were detonated<ref name="erikmitzi" /> as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.<ref name="edge">{{cite web|last=Edge|first=Tim|title=Death of a Martyr|url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~uwp/fyw/euonymous/2005-2006/06-edgefinal.pdf|publisher=GWU|access-date=24 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719134112/http://www.gwu.edu/~uwp/fyw/euonymous/2005-2006/06-edgefinal.pdf|archive-date=19 July 2013}} </ref> 23 people, including Hariri himself, were killed.<ref name="Anniversary of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Assassination" /> Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and his friend and former Minister of the Economy Bassel Fleihan. Hariri was buried along with his bodyguards, who died in the bombing, in a location near Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque.

A 2006 report by Serge Brammertz indicated that DNA evidence collected from the crime scene suggests that the assassination might be the act of a young male suicide bomber.<ref>{{cite web|title=UN probe into murder of former Lebanese leader nears sensitive stage – inquiry chief|publisher=UN|date=18 December 2006|url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21034&Cr=leban&Cr1=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021202724/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21034&Cr=leban&Cr1=|archive-date=21 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In its first two reports in 2014, the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission indicated that the Syrian government may be linked to the assassination.<ref name="Lebanon on a tinderbox"/><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-15/277711-stl-puts-assad-under-scrutiny-in-hariri-case.ashx#axzz3JBXTR0sD|title=STL puts Assad under scrutiny in Hariri case |journal=The Daily Star|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201112111/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-15/277711-stl-puts-assad-under-scrutiny-in-hariri-case.ashx#axzz3JBXTR0sD|url-status=dead}}</ref> Lawyers tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the 2005 bombing said they had received evidence linking Bashar al-Assad's phone to the case.<ref>Daily Star, 14 November 2014 [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-14/277622-machnouk-assad-linked-to-hariri-bombers.ashx#axzz3J24btNvY machnouk assad linked to Hariri bombers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806170014/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-14/277622-machnouk-assad-linked-to-hariri-bombers.ashx#axzz3J24btNvY |date=6 August 2020 }}</ref> In its tenth report, the UNIIIC concluded<ref name=UNIIIC10>{{cite web|url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/287/43/PDF/N0828743.pdf |title=Tenth report of the International Independent Investigation Commission established pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1595 (2005), 1636 (2005), 1644 (2005), 1686 (2006) and 1748 (2007) |publisher=United Nations Security Council |date=2008-03-28 | access-date=2017-01-13}}</ref> "that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafic Hariri."<ref name=UNIIIC10 />

Hezbollah said Israel was responsible for the assassination.<ref name="Hezbollah leader says Israel was behind Hariri killing" /> A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news investigation stated that the special UN investigation team had found evidence for the responsibility of Unit 121 of Hezbollah in the assassination.<ref name="CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Itani |first=Faysal |date=2023-02-14 |title=The Hariri Assassination and the Revolution That Never Was |url=https://newlinesmag.com/first-person/the-hariri-assassination-and-the-revolution-that-never-was/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=New Lines Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramadan |first=Tala |date=2021 |title=Lebanon's growing list of assassinations: A historical perspective |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2021/02/07/Lebanon-crisis-Lebanon-s-growing-list-of-assassinations-a-historical-perspective}}</ref> A UN-backed tribunal issued four arrest warrants to members of Hezbollah.<ref name="Hariri murder: UN tribunal issues arrest warrants"/> In August 2020, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon found Salim Ayyash, a mid-level operative in Hezbollah, guilty in absentia of five charges including the premeditated murder of Hariri using explosive materials. Three other defendants were acquitted. The panel of judges concluded there was "no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Hariri's murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement." Hezbollah denied involvement and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, refused to allow the arrest of Ayyash.<ref name=bbc-20200818>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53601710|title=Rafik Hariri tribunal: Guilty verdict over assassination of Lebanon ex-PM |publisher=BBC News |date=18 August 2020|access-date=19 August 2020}}</ref>

===Funeral & Memorial Commemoration=== Hariri was well regarded among international leaders. He was one of French President Jacques Chirac's closest friends.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chirac to move into Hariri family apartment |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/chirac-to-move-into-hariri-family-apartment-idUSL25646470/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=Reuters |date=9 August 2007}}</ref> Chirac was one of the first foreign dignitaries to travel to Lebanon, where he personally offered his condolences to Hariri's widow, Nazik Hariri at her home in Beirut.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dakroub |first1=Hussein |title=Funeral turns into anti-Syria rally |url=https://www.ocala.com/story/news/2005/02/17/funeral-turns-into-anti-syria-rally/31326127007/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |agency=The Associated Press |publisher=Ocala Star Banner |date=17 February 2025}}</ref> He also attended the funeral, accompanied by his wife, Bernadette Chirac.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kadi |first1=Samar |title=Jacques Chirac remembered as 'friend of the Arab world' |url=https://thearabweekly.com/jacques-chirac-remembered-friend-arab-world |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=The Arab Weekly |date=28 September 2019}}</ref>

Among the foreign dignitaries attending the burial in Beirut were several European and Arab ministers, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, US Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin Faisal Al Saud, and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.<ref name="Irish">{{cite news |title=150,000 attend funeral of Hariri in Lebanon |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/150-000-attend-funeral-of-hariri-in-lebanon-1.1296794 |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=The Irish Times |date=16 February 2005}}</ref>

Approximately 200,000 people gathered in Martyr's Square to get a glimpse of the coffin draped in Lebanon's red, white, and green flag.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lebanese mourners turn funeral into anti-Syria rally |url=https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2005/02/17/lebanese-mourners-turn-funeral-into-anti-syria-rally/31684335007/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=The Gainsville Sun |date=16 February 2005}}</ref> Christians, Muslims, and Druze marched together in the procession, which concluded at the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, a structure Hariri had built in Beirut Central District.<ref name="mcclatchydc">{{cite news |last1=Azadeh Moaveni |first1=Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson and |title=Angry mourners call for revenge at slain Lebanese leader's funeral |url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article24443872.html |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=McClatchy DC |date=24 May 2007}}</ref> Church bells rang out, blending with the resounding calls to Islamic prayers and the beat of a military band's drums.<ref name="mcclatchydc" /> The attendees turned the funeral of Hariri on February 16, 2005, into a powerful display of public anger against Syria, blamed by opposition leaders for the bomb that killed him, with some witnesses estimating that hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the nearby streets in one of Lebanon's largest and most diverse gatherings in decades.<ref name="Irish" />

A month later, on March 14, 2005, to commemorate the one-month anniversary of his assassination, between 1.2 and 1.5 million people gathered in Martyr's Square for the memorial service, marking the largest public assembly in the country's history to date. <ref>{{cite web |title=Lebanese campaign for democracy (Independence Intifada or Cedar Revolution), 2005 |url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/lebanese-campaign-democracy-independence-intifada-or-cedar-revolution-2005 |website=NV Database Swarthmore |publisher=The Global Nonviolent Action Database |access-date=24 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Saghieh |first1=Hazem |title=Lebanon's "14 March": from protest to leadership |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/lebanon_from_protest_to_leadership/ |website=Open Democracy |publisher=The Global Nonviolent Action Database |access-date=24 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Owens |first1=John |title=In Lebanon, Anniversary of Cedar Revolution Draws Little Notice |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/in-lebanon-anniversary-of-cedar-revolution-draws-little-notice/2679860.html |access-date=24 February 2025 |publisher=VOA News |date=13 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=في الذكرى 16.. هل تعيد احتجاجات لبنان روح "ثورة الأرز"؟ |url=https://www.alquds.co.uk/%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%89-16-%D9%87%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AD-%D8%AB/ |access-date=25 February 2025 |publisher=Al Quds Al Arabi |date=14 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=عشرات الآلاف من اللبنانيين يحيون الذكرى الخامسة لاغتيال رفيق الحريري |url=https://www.france24.com/ar/20100214-lebanon-hariri-rafiq-memory-assasination |access-date=25 February 2025 |publisher=France 24 |date=14 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=One year on, Lebanon remembers Hariri |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/14/syria.lebanon |access-date=25 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=14 February 2006}}</ref> People from all sects and regions of Lebanon, from Wadi Khaled in the north to Ain Ebel in the south, gathered to demand an end to Syria's occupation of Lebanon.<ref name="Atlantic">{{cite news |last1=Faysal Itani |first1= Anthony Elghossain and |title=A case in context: From the Lebanese Civil War to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/a-case-in-context-from-the-lebanese-civil-war-to-the-special-tribunal-for-lebanon/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=The Irish Times |date=9 October 2008}}</ref> About a month later, under increasing international pressure, Syria withdrew after a thirty-year-long occupation.<ref name="Atlantic" />

===Aftermath=== {{Main|Cedar Revolution}} The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was also created at his instigation. Syria was initially accused of the assassination, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following widespread protests.<ref>[http://www.democracyinlebanon.org/Documents/CDL-Exclusives/PostLiberation.htm DEMOCRACY IN LEBANON – Post-Liberation Address – خطاب الجلاء]</ref> thumb|Hariri memorial shrine Major General Jamil Al Sayyed, then head of Lebanese General Security, Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan, Major General Ali Hajj and Brigadier General Raymond Azar were all arrested in August 2005 at the request of German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who was carrying out the UN investigation about the assassination.<ref name=reu09 /> Sayyed was one of the persons who decided to assassinate Rafic Hariri according to a leaked draft version of the Mehlis report along with other Syrian high-rank intelligence and security officers and officials, namely Assef Shawkat, Maher Assad, Hassan Khalil and Bahjat Suleyman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/syria/mehlis.report.doc|title=Mehlis Report|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=28 June 2012}}</ref> However, later reports about the assassination did not repeat the allegations against Jamil Al Sayyed and other three Lebanese generals.<ref name=reu09 /> Four Lebanese generals were held in Roumieh prison, northeast of Beirut from 2005 to 2009.<ref name=reu09 /><ref name=nowl2009>{{cite news|title=Jamil as-Sayyed|url=http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=111681|access-date=29 June 2012|newspaper=Now Lebanon|date=31 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419172256/http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=111681|archive-date=19 April 2011}}</ref> They were released from the prison due to lack of evidence in 2009.<ref name=nowl2009 />

Following Hariri's death, there were several other bombings and assassinations against minor anti-Syrian figures. These included Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, Antoine Ghanem and Walid Eido. Assassination attempts were made on Elias Murr, May Chidiac, and Samir Shehade (who was investigating Hariri's death).{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}}

An indictment against alleged Hezbollah members Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra was issued and confirmed by the Pre-Trial Judge of the United Nations special tribunal (see Special Tribunal for Lebanon) in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stl-tsl.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=642_f35160dcfec16df81b98a034988e5871&lang=en&task=download&view=item |title=Decision Relating to the Examination of the Indictment of 10 June 2011 Issued Against Mr Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mr Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Mr Hussein Hassan Oneissi & Mr Assad Hassan Sabra |publisher=STL Pre-Trial Judge |date=2011-06-28}}</ref> In February 2014, the case against Hassan Habib Merhi was joined with the ''Ayyash et al.'' case.<ref name=Joinder>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stl-tsl.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=3488_24c5e3f91ecc97fb4f4c7104c60ba553&lang=en&task=download&view=item |title=Decision on Trial Management and Reasons for Decision on Joinder |publisher=STL Trial Chamber |date=2014-02-25}}</ref> Proceedings against the accused Mustafa Badreddine were terminated in July 2016<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stl-tsl.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=8057_a0bcd74d22b8d348a4bc1c399cbd4af6&lang=en&task=download&view=item |title=Decision on Badreddine Defence Interlocutory Appeal of the "Interim Decision on the Death of Mr Mustafa Amine Badreddine and Possible Termination of Proceedings" |publisher=STL Appeals Chamber |date=2016-07-11 |access-date=31 January 2017 |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022121404/https://www.stl-tsl.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=8057_a0bcd74d22b8d348a4bc1c399cbd4af6&lang=en&task=download&view=item |url-status=dead }}</ref> following credible reports of his death.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36283424 |title=Hezbollah commander Badreddine killed in Syria |publisher=BBC News |date=2016-05-13}}</ref> Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra<ref name="stl-tsl.org">{{Cite web |url=https://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/main/indictments-6/5321-f2640 |title=Redacted Version of the Amended Consolidated Indictment |publisher=STL |date=2016-07-12 |access-date=31 January 2017 |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022114733/https://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/main/indictments-6/5321-f2640 |url-status=dead }}</ref> currently remain on trial ''in absentia''.<ref name="inabsentia">{{Cite web |url=https://www.stl-tsl.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=1037_8ebd4bbe2a1e998f3a24eef60bc8894d&lang=en&task=download&view=item |title=Decision to Hold Trial in Absentia |publisher=STL Trial Chamber |date=2011-02-01}}</ref>

In 2009 the German news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' reported that some of the evidence supporting the indictment of Hezbollah involved a number of cellphones purchased in Tripoli shortly before the assassination, and were used by members of Hezbollah solely for the coordination of the assassination, except for a call from one of them to his girlfriend.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Follath |first=Erich |date=2009-05-23 |title=Breakthrough in Tribunal Investigation: New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Murder |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/breakthrough-in-tribunal-investigation-new-evidence-points-to-hezbollah-in-hariri-murder-a-626412.html |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Der Spiegel |language=en |issn=2195-1349}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Norton |first=Augustus R. |title=Hezbollah: a short history |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18088-5 |edition= |series=Princeton studies in Muslim politics |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=157}}</ref> The ties to Hezbollah were exposed by Captain Wissam Eid of the Lebanese Internal Security Force, who was assassinated himself before the conclusion of the investigation,<ref name=":0" /> as was Lebanese Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, one of the leading figures of the Special tribunal.<ref>{{cite news |title=unknown |url=http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/newsdesk.nsf/Lebanon/7C63EB502943632FC22577E4002190AC?OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818121458/http://www.naharnet.com// |archive-date=18 August 2020 |access-date=23 October 2012 |newspaper=Naharnet}}</ref>

In August 2010, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah presented intercepted Israeli spy-drone video footage to CNN, which he said implicated Israel because "they were tracking Hariri's whereabouts and the roads that he took every day." When asked what Israel's motive would have been, Nasrallah said, "They just wanted to start an internal strife."<ref>[http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-09/world/lebanon.nasrallah.israel_1_hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-israelis?_s=PM:WORLD Hezbollah chief: Israel killed Hariri] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116235714/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-09/world/lebanon.nasrallah.israel_1_hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-israelis?_s=PM%3AWORLD |date=16 January 2013}}, CNN</ref>

After an altercation between male Tribunal staff and women at a gynecology clinic in October 2010, Hezbollah demanded that the Lebanese government stop all cooperation with the Special Tribunal investigation, claiming the tribunal to be an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty by Western governments.

On 1 November 2010, a report was leaked by ''Al Akhbar'', a local secular, leftist newspaper, stating that Hezbollah drafted plans for a quick takeover of the country in the case an indictment against its members is issued by the UN Special Tribunal.<ref>* [http://www.stratfor.com/memberships/175137/analysis/20101102_hezbollah_threatens_explosion_beirut_over_tribunal Hezbollah Threatens an 'Explosion' in Beirut Over Tribunal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106081720/http://www.stratfor.com/memberships/175137/analysis/20101102_hezbollah_threatens_explosion_beirut_over_tribunal |date=6 November 2010 }}, Stratfor Global Intelligence. * [http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4725.htm Lebanese Daily: Hizbullah Drills Takeover of Lebanon], 3 November 2010, The Middle East Research Institute.</ref> The report states that Hezbollah conducted a simulation of the plan on 28 October, immediately following a speech by its secretary general.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nash|first=Matt|title=Hezbollah to take over "large parts of Lebanon"?|url=https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/hezbollah_to_take_over_large_parts_of_lebanon|access-date=18 July 2013|newspaper=Now Lebanon|date=1 November 2010|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806134720/https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/hezbollah_to_take_over_large_parts_of_lebanon|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On the other side, it was revealed by leaked US embassy cables that then Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate director Omar Suleiman reported that Syria "desperately" wanted to stop the investigation of the Tribunal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/136139|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|title=US embassy cables: Egypt spy chief promises pressure on Hamas|date=28 November 2010}}</ref>

In 2024, Salim Jamil Ayyash, the assassin of Hariri was reportedly killed by an IDF strike near al-Qusayr in the Homs region.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marks |first=Josh |date=2024-11-11 |title=Hezbollah terrorist behind Hariri murder killed in Israeli strike |url=https://www.jns.org/hezbollah-terrorist-behind-hariri-murder-killed-in-israeli-strike/ |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=JNS.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Legacy == On 22 June 2005, Beirut International Airport was renamed Rafic Hariri International Airport.<ref name="Foundation" /> Additionally, Beirut General University hospital was renamed Rafiq Hariri Hospital.<ref name="Foundation" /> Rafic Hariri was succeeded by his son Saad Hariri as leader of the Future Party.

==See also== {{Portal|Lebanon|Biography}} * List of assassinated Lebanese politicians * Assassinations linked to the Cedar Revolution * List of Lebanese people in Saudi Arabia * Hariri Tribunal, officially called the Special Tribunal for Lebanon * Unit 121 * Mohamed Khalouf

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist|refs=  <ref name="Anniversary of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Assassination">{{cite press release|title=Anniversary of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Assassination|first= John|last= Kerry|publisher=U.S. Department of State|date=14 February 2013|url= https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/02/204582.htm}}</ref>  <ref name="CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?">{{cite news|title=CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?|first=Neil|last=Macdonald|newspaper=CBC News|date=21 November 2010|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cbc-investigation-who-killed-lebanon-s-rafik-hariri-1.874820|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903144812/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2010/11/19/f-rfa-macdonald-lebanon-hariri.html|archive-date=3 September 2013|url-status=live|access-date=18 December 2012}}</ref>  <ref name="erikmitzi">{{cite journal|title=The Special Tribunal for Lebanon: A Court "Off the Shelf" for a Divided Country|last1= Wetzel|first1= Jan Erik|last2=Mitri|first2=Yvonne|journal=The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals|year=2008|volume= 7|pages= 81–114|url=http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/3047/1/Wetzel%26Mitri_Special_Tribunal_Lebanon_LPICT_7%282008%29.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171010025439/http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/3047/1/Wetzel%26Mitri_Special_Tribunal_Lebanon_LPICT_7%282008%29.pdf|archive-date=10 October 2017|url-status=live|doi=10.1163/157180308x311110}}</ref>  <ref name="Hariri murder: UN tribunal issues arrest warrants">{{cite news|title= Hariri murder: UN tribunal issues arrest warrants|publisher= BBC News|date= 30 June 2011|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13972350|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190404054357/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13972350|archive-date= 4 April 2019|url-status= live|access-date= 1 December 2012}}</ref>  <ref name="Hezbollah leader says Israel was behind Hariri killing">{{cite news|title= Hezbollah leader says Israel was behind Hariri killing|publisher= CNN|date= 3 June 2011|url= http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/07/02/lebanon.nasrallah.hariri/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171010211645/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/07/02/lebanon.nasrallah.hariri/|archive-date= 10 October 2017|url-status= dead|access-date= 1 December 2012}}</ref>  <ref name="Lebanon on a tinderbox">{{flatlist}} *{{allow wrap|{{cite news| first = Claude| last = Salhani| author-link = Claude Salhani| title = Lebanon on a Tinderbox| work = Washington Times| url = https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/nov/19/20061119-102612-1990r/| date = 19 November 2006| access-date = 21 August 2022}}}} *{{allow wrap|{{cite news|title= Lebanon on a tinderbox (page 2 of 2)|url= http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/nov/19/20061119-102612-1990r/?page=2|archive-url= https://www.webcitation.org/6CadlW7Sq?url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/nov/19/20061119-102612-1990r/?page=2|archive-date= 1 December 2012|access-date= 1 December 2012|url-status= dead}}}} {{endflatlist}}</ref>  <ref name="Lebanon's vast web of corruption unravels">{{cite news|title= Lebanon's vast web of corruption unravels|last= Fisk|first= Robert|location= London|work= The Independent|date= 6 December 1998|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/lebanons-vast-web-of-corruption-unravels-1189670.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190327191635/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/lebanons-vast-web-of-corruption-unravels-1189670.html|archive-date= 27 March 2019|url-status= live|access-date= 1 December 2012}}</ref>   <ref name="Rafik Hariri NYT">{{cite news|title= Rafik Hariri|work= The New York Times|date= 30 June 2011|url= http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/rafik_hariri/index.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150906023321/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/rafik_hariri/index.html|archive-date= 6 September 2015|url-status= live|first=Robert F. |last=Worth}}</ref>  <ref name="Rafik Hariri, Ex-Premier of Lebanon, Dies at 60">{{flatlist}} *{{allow wrap|{{cite news|title= Rafik Hariri, Ex-Premier of Lebanon, Dies at 60 (page 1 of 2)|first= Susan|last= Sachs|work= The New York Times|date= 15 February 2005|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15hariri.html|archive-url= https://www.webcitation.org/6EdTsf7Fo?url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15hariri.html?_r=0|archive-date= 23 February 2013|url-status= dead}}}} *{{allow wrap|{{cite news|title= Rafik Hariri, Ex-Premier of Lebanon, Dies at 60 (page 2 of 2)|date= 15 February 2005|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15hariri.html?pagewanted=2|archive-url= https://www.webcitation.org/6EdToWFRj?url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15hariri.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0|archive-date= 23 February 2013|work= The New York Times|first= Susan|last= Sachs|url-status= dead}}}} {{endflatlist}}</ref>

<ref name=reu09>{{cite news|title=Factbox: Lebanese generals ordered released by Hariri court|publisher= Reuters|date= 29 April 2009|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-tribunal-generals-facts-idUSTRE53S4KF20090429|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924141746/http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/04/29/us-lebanon-tribunal-generals-facts-idUSTRE53S4KF20090429|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live|access-date= 18 December 2012}}</ref> |colwidth=30em}}

== Sources == *Sallam, Qasim (1980). ''Al-Baath wal Watan Al-Arabi'' [Arabic, with French translation] ("The Baath and the Arab Homeland"). Paris: EMA. {{ISBN|2-86584-003-4}} *Stephan, Joseph S. (2006) ''Oeuvres et performances du president martyr Rafic Hariri, les performances economico-financieres avant Paris 2 et apres, le philanthrope batisseur'' *Blandford, Nicholas (2006). ''Killing Mr Lebanon: The Assassination of Rafik Hariri and Its Impact on the Middle East'' *Vloeberghs, Ward (2015). ''Architecture, Power and Religion in Lebanon: Rafiq Hariri and the Politics of Sacred Space in Beirut''

==External links== {{Commons category|Rafic Hariri}} {{Wikiquote}} * [http://www.rhariri.com/ Rafic Hariri] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407044411/http://www.rhariri.com/ |date=7 April 2013 }}) – Official site with news, video, press releases, speeches, statements, government policy, Cabinet decisions and UN resolutions *{{C-SPAN|32901}} *{{Charlie Rose view|3717}} *{{Aljazeeratopic|person/rafiq-al-hariri}} *{{JPosttopic|Rafic_Hariri}} *{{NYTtopic|people/h/rafik_hariri}}

;Print articles * Family of Slain Lebanese Leader Demands Probe into Killing -The Associated Press/''New York Times'' 17 February 2005 * Death of Businessman By Ajami, Fouad ''The Wall Street Journal''-17 February 2005 Page A12

{{S-start}} {{S-off}} {{Succession box|title=Prime Minister of Lebanon|before=Rachid Solh|after=Selim Hoss|years=1992–1998}} {{Succession box|title=Prime Minister of Lebanon|before=Selim Hoss|after=Omar Karami|years=2000–2004}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hariri, Rafic}} Category:Rafic Hariri Category:1944 births Category:2005 deaths Rafic Category:People from Sidon Category:21st-century Lebanese politicians Category:Prime ministers of Lebanon Category:Finance ministers of Lebanon Category:Beirut Arab University alumni Category:Businesspeople in construction Category:Lebanese billionaires Category:American University of Beirut trustees Category:Future Movement politicians Category:Assassinated Lebanese politicians Category:Terrorism deaths in Lebanon Category:Lebanese terrorism victims Category:People murdered in Lebanon Category:Deaths by car bomb in Lebanon Category:Lebanese emigrants to Saudi Arabia Category:Naturalised citizens of Saudi Arabia Category:Lebanese mass media owners Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Category:Recipients of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Category:20th-century Lebanese businesspeople Category:20th-century Lebanese politicians Category:Assassinations in Lebanon Category:People of the Lebanese Civil War Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 2000s Category:Politicians assassinated in 2005 Category:Deaths by explosive device