Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri (Arabic: سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, romanized: Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī pronunciationⓘ; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020.

[20] Prior to entering politics, Hariri was the chairman of the executive committee of Oger Telecom, which pursued telecommunication interests in the Middle East and Africa, from 1994 to 2005.

[19][23] He was the leader of the March 14 Alliance,[24] 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.

[25] According to WikiLeaks documents, Hariri met with Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman on 20 August during the 2006 Lebanon War, during which he criticized Army Commander Michel Suleiman for his subservient behavior towards Hezbollah following a statement he issued in support of them, and called Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri asking him to transfer the Shiite officers from the shipping station at Beirut International Airport, claiming that the United Nations wanted this, and also informed Berri, that he was ready to “strike and overthrow Hezbollah” if he gets the opportunity.

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

[33] The government lasted barely 14-months and was considered by the opposition as dysfunctional; its collapse precipitated a climate of political deadlock and tension similar to that which existed between 2006 and 2008.

[35] Nabih Berri, the Lebanese parliamentary speaker and a member of the March 8 alliance, said Suleiman would formally launch talks to create a new government on 16 January.

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

[40][41] Iran vehemently rejected Saad Hariri's remarks and called his resignation part of a plot by the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia to heighten Middle Eastern tensions.

[42] The Lebanese Army responded with a statement that intelligence in its possession in addition to ongoing arrests and investigations had not revealed "the presence of any plan for assassinations in the country.

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

[48][49] On 11 November, Lebanese President Michel Aoun released the statement: "Lebanon does not accept its prime minister being in a situation at odds with international treaties and the standard rules in relations between states.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Hariri held a press conference in which he announced various economic reforms including halving the salaries of legislators and members of parliament, reducing the deficit by about US$3.4 billion in 2020 with the help of the Lebanese central bank and the banking sector, distributing financial aid to families living in poverty, and giving US$160 million in housing loans.

[57] On 23 October, Hariri held a meeting with the ministerial committee in charge of financial and economic reforms, discussing a draft law on the recovery of public money and requesting suggestions on it from the Supreme Judicial Council within ten days.

[54] The following day, President Michel Aoun accepted the resignation but requested that Hariri remain in office till a successor was appointed.

[64] On 16 December, at noon, President Aoun delayed scheduled parliamentary consultations, during which Saad Hariri was widely expected to be renamed Prime Minister.

[67] A separate group of protesters descended upon Beirut as well, expressing outrage at a month-old video of an ex-pat insulting several Shi'a religious leaders.

[72] He met with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey in January 2021,[73] Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt in February,[74] and visited Mohammed bin Zayed in United Arab Emirates several times.

[75] 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,[76] and his trips were seen as an attempt to compensate the support he lacked from Saudi Arabia.

[83][84] After the anger among the Lebanese, President Michel Aoun and Prime minister-designate Saad Hariri held immediate talks in the presidential palace.

[87] According to Hariri, President Aoun presented him with a line-up granting his team a third of all cabinet seats, which would enable them to have veto power over decision making in the Lebanese government.

[88] 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.

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

In 2019, South African courts sued van der Merwe for failing to pay income taxes on the amount, despite her claims that it was a gift.