Hariri heading to Egypt amid Lebanon political deadlock

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has left France for Egypt as his Mediterranean country grapples with political uncertainty following his shock resignation announcement in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

A French official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed that Hariri had left Paris for the Egyptian capital city of Cairo, where he is scheduled to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and discuss latest developments in Lebanon.

Hariri came to France on Saturday on the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron invited the Lebanese prime minister and his family to France on November 15, 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.

Hariri has said he would return to Lebanon in time for Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday, and would declare his political stance.

“As you know I have resigned and we will talk about this matter in Lebanon,” Hariri said after meeting Macron.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has refused to accept Hariri's resignation, stressing that he would wait for him to return and then decide the next move regarding the government.

Hariri announced his resignation in a televised statement on November 4, citing many reasons, including the security situation in Lebanon, for his sudden decision. He also said that he sensed a plot being hatched against his life.

Hariri accused Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement of meddling in Arab countries’ affairs; an allegation the two have repeatedly denied.

Hariri became prime minister in 2016 after serving another term between November 2009 and June 2011.

Iran has vehemently rejected Hariri’s remarks, saying his resignation and rehashing of the “unfounded and baseless” allegations regularly leveled by Zionists, Saudis and the US were another scenario to create new tensions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“The sudden resignation of Mr. Hariri and its announcement in another country are not only regrettable and astonishing, but also indicative of him playing in a court that the ill-wishers in the region have laid out,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi commented.

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