Lebanon’s prime minister arrives in Paris, heralding the end of one crisis but perhaps starting another

Lebanon’s embattled prime minister, Saad Hariri, met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Saturday and insisted he would return to Beirut on Wednesday, marking a new chapter in the odd political drama that has thrust Lebanon into the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The visit, equal parts diplomacy and political theater, was meant to dispel speculation that Hariri was being held hostage in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, from where he declared his surprise resignation as prime minister two weeks ago.

Since then, both allies and opponents of Hariri have demanded his return to the Lebanese capital so that he can formalize or back down from his resignation in person.

“I will attend … the Independence Day celebrations in Lebanon.… All of my political positions will be launched from there, after seeing the president of the republic,” he said in a short televised news conference from the Elysee Palace after meeting with Macron. “You know that I have tendered my resignation and … in Lebanon we will speak about this.”

Lebanon marks its independence on Nov. 22.

Hariri arrived in France with his wife for what was billed as a lunch meeting with Macron, who warmly embraced the Lebanese leader on the steps of the Elysee Palace and patted him on the back before they turned to greet the crowd. Hariri seemed relaxed, the smile on his face extinguished only when he turned to enter the building.

Later, French media broadcast footage of Macron and Hariri and some of their family members awkwardly sitting around a table, with Hariri grimacing at the camera as he speaks to a poker-faced Macron.

Even Hariri’s closest confidants were reportedly blindsided on Nov. 4, when he announced his resignation on a Saudi-owned news channel. They pinned the blame on Iranian meddling in Lebanese affairs.

Hariri also excoriated Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite political party whose armed wing is criticized as being an instrument of Tehran’s foreign policy, and which had been a member of the Lebanese coalition government formed last year that installed Hariri as prime minister.

Hezbollah has worked against Saudi-supported opposition groups in Syria, while Riyadh accuses the group’s operatives of working with anti-Saudi forces in Yemen and Bahrain.

Many, including Hezbollah’s leadership, considered Hariri a hostage who was obeying a dictate by Saudi Arabia, where Hariri is a citizen and whose leaders bankrolled the Hariri family’s rise to power in Lebanon.

Feverish speculation has dogged his every appearance since then, with commentators poring over tweets and trying to discern clues from Hariri’s body language to determine whether he and his family were being held against their will.

His older son, local media outlets reported, came from London for the lunch on Saturday. Hariri’s two other children remained in Saudi Arabia for exams, said the Lebanese Annahar daily.

Others wondered whether Hariri’s resignation had more to do with an anti-corruption drive (or power play, critics say) led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, following the shuttering of Hariri’s family company, Saudi Oger.

Meanwhile, Beirut ramped up diplomatic initiatives, with France leading efforts to allow Hariri to leave, despite his insisting that he was “fine” and that any claims he was being held in Saudi Arabia and not allowed to leave were a lie.

The news of Hariri’s impending arrival in Beirut was welcomed by politicians at home. But, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri told local media outlets Friday that, though it marks the end of “Hariri’s personal crisis, a political crisis has now begun.”

Lebanon, a fragile state composed of 18 squabbling sects, has a power-sharing government that reserves the prime minister’s position for a Sunni Muslim. However, if Hariri were to confirm his resignation, it is unclear who would take his place.

The crisis has also heralded a resurgence for France’s role in the region (an ironic development in the run-up to Lebanon celebrating its independence from France next week.)

Hariri lauded Macron for his support, saying that he had shown “an infallible friendship and I will never forget this.”

“France has once again demonstrated its great role in the world and the region,” he said.

Not all were pleased with Macron’s high-profile diplomacy in the region. Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, rebuked comments from the French foreign minister on Thursday in which he criticized Iran’s ballistic program, its “intervention in regional crisis” and “hegemonic” intentions.

“Unfortunately it seems that France has a biased and partisan approach to the crises in the region, and this approach, whether intentionally or not, is even contributing to turning potential crises into real ones,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.

“Ignoring regional realities and echoing baseless concerns that have been pulled out of the air by deluded, warmongering Saudi officials and are aggressive toward Iran do not contribute towards settling the crises in the region in which Saudi Arabia clearly plays a destructive role,” Ghasemi said.

Bulos is a special correspondent.

Twitter: @nabihbulos