Lebanon president welcomes Hariri’s plan to return home

Lebanese President Michel Aoun yesterday welcomed the announcement by outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri that he was returning to Lebanon from Saudi Arabia within days.

“The national and diplomacy campaign that Lebanon has waged in order to clear the ambiguity regarding Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s status in Saudi Arabia yielded positive results,” the president said in a statement.

“The state of cohesion shown by the Lebanese during the past days in the wake of Hariri’s resignation from abroad, increased national unity,” he added.

“Lebanon is a sovereign and independent state and its decision is free, which made countries around the world renew their concern for maintaining security and political stability in it,” he added.

Lebanon: What’s after Hariri’s resignation?

In a television interview on Sunday, Hariri said that he will return to Lebanon “within days, not weeks or months” to complete the constitutional procedures for his resignation.

On 4 November, Hariri announced his resignation during a visit to Saudi Arabia, saying that he believed there was “a plot to assassinate him”.

However, Aoun said he would not accept Hariri’s resignation until he returned to Lebanon to explain his position.