Lebanese Prime Minister Revokes Resignation After Returning from Riyadh

TEHRAN (defapress)- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri formally revoked his resignation on Tuesday following a consensus deal with rival parties, after he had put his resignation on hold at President Michel Aoun’s request to allow for more consultations on the issue.

News ID: 67276

Date: 05 December 2017 - 19:25

Today's cabinet meeting, the first held since the crisis began, endorsed a statement calling on rival Lebanese groups to distance themselves from regional conflicts and the internal affairs of other Arab countries.

Hariri had announced his resignation early November in a televised announcement broadcast from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, accusing Iran and the Hezbollah, of meddling in the Arab countries’ affairs, but Tehran and Lebanese resistance movement rejected the allegation.

Meanwhile, Aoun stressed that Hariri was living in "mysterious circumstances” in Riyadh, which had "reached the degree of restricting (his) freedom” and Riyadh had imposed "conditions on his residency and on contact with him even by members of his family,”

After a nearly three-week absence, Hariri returned to Lebanon and put his resignation on hold at Aoun’s request to allow for more consultations on the issue.

Meantime, secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah Sayed Hassan Nasrallah said that Saudi authorities had clearly and openly declared war on Lebanon by holding Hariri hostage in the oil-rich kingdom and forcing him to quit his post.

"Hariri is a prisoner in Saudi Arabia, and cannot return to his own country. Saudi Arabia is seeking to impose its will on the Lebanese government. It is trying to sow the seeds of discord among various political factions here and pit them against each other,” Nasrallah added.

He emphasized that Saudi Arabia wanted to destroy Lebanon under the pretext of combating Hezbollah, noting that Riyadh "was the main architect of Israel’s war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006.”