FILE PHOTO: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri attends a general parliament discussion in downtown Beirut, Lebanon October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
November 12, 2017
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon’s prime minister on November 4 while in Saudi Arabia, said on Sunday he would return to his country within days.
Speaking from Saudi Arabia in an interview with Future TV, a station affiliated with his political party, Hariri said he had offered his resignation in the interest of Lebanon.
He also said Lebanon could face Arab sanctions.
Hariri resigned last week in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia and has yet to return to Lebanon. Lebanon’s president has refused to accept the resignation until he returns.
Hariri’s resignation thrust Lebanon back to the forefront of a struggle that is reshaping the Middle East, between the conservative Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran.
In his interview Hariri said Lebanon must remain neutral in regional conflicts.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Tom Perry and Laila Bassam; Editing by Peter Graff)
