32 Facts About Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 9 November 2009 to 13 June 2011.

Saad Hariri was designated as prime minister on 22 October 2020, but failed to form a government and resigned on 15 July 2021.

On February 14,2025, Saad Hariri announced the return of his political party, the Future Movement, during a speech at Martyr's Square.

Saad Hariri pledged that the party would actively participate in upcoming elections and continue to represent Lebanese voices.

Saad Hariri addressed Lebanon's challenges, including the aftermath of the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, and called for rebuilding the nation while maintaining justice and sovereignty.

Saad Hariri was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 18 April 1970, and is the son of Rafic Hariri and his first wife Nidal Bustani, an Iraqi woman of Kurdish originally from the city of Baghdad.

Saad Hariri graduated in 1992 from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University with a degree in business administration.

Saad Hariri was the leader of the March 14 Alliance, a coalition of political groups born out of the Cedar Revolution which, through mass popular demonstrations and Western support, led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005 after a 29-year presence.

Saad Hariri was first elected prime minister from 9 November 2009 until 13 June 2011.

On 12 January 2011, minutes after Saad Hariri posed for pictures with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, the opposition parties resigned from his unity government cabinet, causing its collapse.

Saad Hariri continued on for four months as caretaker prime minister.

Saad Hariri vowed to find a way out of the crisis saying his allies and he would take part in "consultations" to a name a new leader.

Saad Hariri released a statement in response, describing Bashar al-Assad as a "monster".

On 4 November 2017, in a televised statement from Saudi Arabia, Saad Hariri tendered his resignation from office, citing Iran's and Hezbollah's political over-extension in the Middle East region and fears of assassination.

Anti-Hezbollah blogger Michael Young stated that he did not think Saad Hariri was an actual hostage of the Saudi regime, but that the situation confirmed Saad Hariri's close ties with them.

However, Lebanese-American political scientist As'ad AbuKhalil claimed that the Saudis had jailed and physically restrained and assaulted Saad Hariri before ordering him to broadcast his resignation.

Saad Hariri was able to make such a request due to Hariri's French citizenship.

Saad Hariri stated that President Michel Aoun had asked him to "put it on hold ahead of further consultations".

Saad Hariri refused to talk about what happened in Saudi Arabia and claimed that events will remain undisclosed.

Saad Hariri's government was widely viewed as corrupt by the Lebanese people.

Saad Hariri discussed planned reforms and stressed the importance of peaceful expression from the protesters.

Saad Hariri was backed by his Future Movement, PSP and Amal Movement, receiving 65 votes, 4 less than his predecessor Diab, while Hezbollah along with major Christian parties, Free Patriotic Movement and Lebanese Forces, did not endorse him.

Saad Hariri met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey in January 2021, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt in February, and visited Mohammed bin Zayed in United Arab Emirates several times.

Saad Hariri has been criticized for spending a great amount of time outside Lebanon, while the absence of a government worsened the financial crisis in the country, and his trips were seen as an attempt to compensate the support he lacked from Saudi Arabia.

Aoun maintained that inaction was no longer a choice for the PM-designate Saad Hariri and had to choose between stepping down or forming a government.

Saad Hariri was said to have been criticized by Aoun for disclosing his proposed government to the media, because the distribution of the ministries was unjust which was his reason for not agreeing to the line-up, according to Al Jazeera.

On 24 January 2022 Saad Hariri announced his withdrawal from Lebanese politics and that he would not run in the 2022 general elections.

Saad Hariri called on the Future Movement to follow suit and not run in the upcoming parliamentary elections nor nominate anyone to run on its behalf.

Saad Hariri, born in 1970 in Riyadh, is the second son of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and his first wife Nidal Bustani, an Iraqi national.

Saad Hariri married Lara Al Azem in 1998, the daughter of Bashir Al Azem, an influential and wealthy Syrian construction magnate.

Saad Hariri lived in Paris from 2011 to 2014 for safety reasons, and returned to Lebanon on 8 August 2014.

In 2013, Saad Hariri allegedly paid South African bikini model, Candice van der Merwe, a $16 million cash gift after meeting her in the Seychelles.