rafic hariri

Born in 1944, Rafic Hariri was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until 2004.

As a young man he made a fortune in Saudi Arabia and became a close advisor to powerful figures within the Saudi royal family. Returning to Lebanon he helped to rebuild his country’s shattered infrastructure and economy, which had been devastated by 15 years of civil war and foreign invasion.

Hariri was assassinated on 14 February 2005 by a suicide truck bomb in Beirut. All sides in Lebanon’s complex political landscape pointed fingers at each other. After decades in the upper echelons of business, politics, and diplomacy, he had no shortage of enemies who might want him dead.