Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister this month while in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Paris on Saturday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, a statement from Hariri’s press office said.
He was staying in an apartment in Paris’s 8th district before heading to the Elysee Palace.
Hariri told Lebanese President Michel Aoun in a phone call from Paris that he would be in Lebanon on Wednesday for Independence Day celebrations, Aoun said on Twitter.
It’s the first official comment on when Hariri is expected to be back in Beirut since his Nov. 4 resignation through a broadcast on a Saudi-owned TV station from Saudi Arabia.
French President Emmanuel Macron, second from the right, and his wife Brigitte Macron, far right, pose for photographers with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri, his wife Lara Hariri, along with their son, Houssam, left, prior to their luncheon at the Elysee Palace. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)
Macron said on Friday he would welcome Hariri to Paris as Lebanon’s prime minister and expected him to return to Beirut in the “coming days, weeks.”
Hariri’s resignation in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia has thrown Lebanon into a serious political crisis. Aoun refused to accept it, accusing the Saudis of holding him against his will.
Hariri said he went to Saudi Arabia to consult with officials there on the future of Lebanon and its relations with its Arab neighbours. He dismissed as “rumours” reports about his alleged detention in the kingdom.
After meeting with Macron, Hariri was to attend a lunch in his honour with his wife and eldest son, the statement said.
Lebanese local media outlets say Hariri’s two younger children are still in Saudi Arabia where they are attending school. Hariri’s older son, Hussam, studies in Britain and arrived in Paris to meet his parents.