Reuters: Lebanese president hopes Hariri visit to France will end crisis
BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) - Lebanon’s president said on Thursday he hoped the crisis over Saad al-Hariri’s resignation as prime minister would soon end, with Hariri planning to leave Saudi Arabia for France this weekend.
Hariri announced his resignation while in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 in a televised statement in which he railed against Riyadh’s bitter foe Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
That thrust Lebanon into both a domestic political crisis and the Middle East’s overarching rivalry that pits Saudi Arabia and its allies against a bloc led by Iran.
A Elysee Palace source said Hariri would fly to Paris on Saturday and meet President Emmanuel Macron the same day.
French officials said they did not know how long Hariri would stay before returning to Beirut but hoped his trip would help soothe the crisis by demonstrating he was not being held in Saudi Arabia, as Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has said.
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WNU Editor: The French government has just announced that former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri will arrive in France this Saturday .... Lebanon's Hariri to arrive in France on Saturday, meet Macron: Elysee source (Reuters). Will this end the speculation on why he resigned as Lebanon's Prime Minister .... probably not.
More News On Reports That Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri Will Be Traveling To France On Saturday
Lebanese PM Hariri accepts invitation to France -- AP
Lebanon's Saad Hariri Accepts Invitation To Visit France -- NPR
Hariri Paris trip is 'start of solution': Lebanon president -- AFP
Lebanese President hopes Hariri's France visit will end political crisis -- Globe and Mail/Reuters
Lebanese PM accepts invitation to travel to France -- CNN
Hariri free to leave Riyadh ‘when he pleases’, says Saudi FM -- The Guardian/AFP
France, Lebanon and the Hariri family have close ties -- Digital Journal
Next stop, Paris: The strange journey of Lebanon’s Saad Hariri -- RT
