Dubai: Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri is expected in Paris todday after receiving an invitation from President Emmanuel Macron.
Since he resigned on Nov-ember 4, the region has been rife with uncertainty and speculation over the implications of such a move.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has yet to accept the resignation, insisting that Hariri come to Beirut first, which the latter promised he would do eventually.
Hariri yesterday dismissed reports about his alleged detention in Saudi Arabia as “rumours.”
Hariri said in a tweet that he has stayed in Saudi Arabia to consult about the future of Lebanon and its relations with the region.
“All stories spreading about my sojourn and departure or that deal with the circumstances of my family are merely rumours,” he added.
In Madrid, the Saudi foreign minister said that there will be no stability in Lebanon unless the militant group Hezbollah disarms.
“This is what we hope,” Adel Al Jubeir said at a press conference with his Spanish counterpart.
Arab consensus
On his part, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash insisted that the only way to confront Iran is to achieve Arab consensus.
Without unity, the “Hezbollah will dominate at the expense of free nations”, he wrote on Twitter.
Macron told France24 television on Wednesday that after speaking with Hariri and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman “we came to an agreement that he’d be invited for several days to France.”
MP Okab Saqr, a member of Lebanon’s parliament for Hariri’s Future Movement confirmed he would be in Paris today.
