Hariri plans to leave Saudi Arabia for France on Friday: MP
Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanese Prime Minister earlier this month during a visit to Saudi Arabia, will leave the kingdom for France on Friday, a member of his party says.
“Today to Paris, this afternoon, and tomorrow a family meeting with [French President Emmanuel] Macron,” Okab Saqr, a member of parliament for Future Movement, told Reuters.
Hariri’s scheduled meeting with Macron in Paris on Saturday, and a lunch that his family will also attend, comes a day before Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo, Egypt.
Saqr added that after the premier’s travel to Paris, he would have “a small Arab tour” before travelling to Beirut.
Speaking in Sweden, the French president said Hariri “intends to return to his country in the coming days, weeks.”
The announcement of the visit came after Hariri held a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Riyadh on Thursday.
Hariri, a dual Saudi citizen, has been in the Saudi capital since issuing a statement on television there on November 4 that he was stepping down because of the security situation in Lebanon. He also said that he saw a plot being hatched against his life.
Hariri also accused Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, of meddling in the Arab countries’ affairs; an allegation the two have rejected.
On Wednesday, Macron invited Hariri and his family to France, apparently as a way out for him to leave Saudi Arabia amid reports that the Riyadh regime is holding the prime minister against his will.
Top Lebanese officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say he was forced to quit, and is being held by Saudi authorities. Lebanese politicians from across the political spectrum have called for Hariri’s return to Beirut, saying it is necessary to resolve the crisis.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has called Hariri a Saudi hostage and refused to accept his resignation unless he returns to Beirut.
In a tweet on Friday, Hariri dismissed as “rumors" the reports about his detention in Saudi Arabia.
He said he has stayed in Saudi Arabia to consult about Lebanon’s future and its relations with the region.
The Lebanese premier also said “stories” about his family in Saudi Arabia are only “rumors.” Lebanese President Michel Aoun had previously said that Lebanon is in possession of reliable intelligence that Hariri's family were also detained in their house in Saudi Arabia.
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