Lebanon: Hariri suspends resignation

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has suspended his resignation for further consultations.

“Today I presented my resignation to his excellency the president, and he asked me to temporarily suspend submitting it and to put it on hold ahead of further consultations on the reasons for it,” Hariri said after a meeting with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda presidential palace.

Hariri has reiterated the demand to refrain from regional conflicts and all that harms relations within the region.

“Our nation today needs at this sensitive time exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it against danger. We must dissociate from wars, external struggles and regional conflicts,” he said.

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In a surprise move, Hariri announced his resignation from the Saudi capital Riyadh on 4 November. However, Aoun refused to accept Hariri’s resignation until he returned home claiming that Hariri was forced to resign by Riyadh and was being held in Saudi against his will.

France is reported to have made efforts to bring Hariri back from Saudi Arabia and invited him to Paris before he returned to Beirut via Cairo on Tuesday night.

Hariri took office in December 2016 as part of a settlement between the various political currents. He also held the post between 2009 and 2011.