{"id":30802,"date":"2017-11-14T11:55:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T06:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=30802"},"modified":"2017-11-14T11:55:44","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T06:55:44","slug":"lebanons-president-welcomes-hariris-plans-to-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=30802","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon’s president welcomes Hariri’s plans to return"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT Nov 14 (TNS):<\/strong> Lebanese President Michel Aoun \u2014 who has refused to accept Saad Hariri\u2019s resignation as prime minister unless Hariri returns from Saudi Arabia \u2014 welcomed comments from Hariri that he plans to come home soon, palace sources and visitors said.<\/p>\n

Hariri \u2014 who threw Lebanon into political crisis by reading out his resignation on November 4 from Riyadh \u2014 gave his first public remarks since then in an interview late on Sunday, saying he planned to return within days.<\/p>\n

He suggested he could even withdraw his resignation, provided Hezbollah \u2014 allied to Saudi Arabia\u2019s regional rival Iran \u2014 renounces interference in conflicts across the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The crisis has thrust tiny Lebanon \u2014 where Muslim sects, Christian, and Druze groups with backing from regional powers fought a 1975-1990 civil war \u2014 to the forefront of the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran being played out on battlefields from Syria to Yemen.<\/p>\n

Aoun has said he believes Hariri does not have free control over his own movements while in Saudi Arabia, and that this casts doubt on any statements Hariri makes.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, those close to Aoun said the president welcomed Hariri\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Aoun expressed his pleasure at Hariri\u2019s announcement of his return to Lebanon soon,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

Aoun said that Hariri was \u201cleaving all doors open including rescinding his resignation\u201d, according to one of a group of visitors who met Aoun. The visitors declined to be identified while discussing the closed-door conversations.<\/p>\n

The visitors quoted Aoun as saying that Hariri\u2019s remarks showed that the political deal underpinning Lebanon\u2019s coalition government \u2014 which includes both Hariri\u2019s party and the heavily-armed Hezbollah \u2014 still stands.<\/p>\n

Aoun has been convening high-level meetings with Lebanese politicians and diplomats since Hariri stepped down, and the visitors said the president believed that Hariri\u2019s comments showed such efforts were working.<\/p>\n

Nearly 24 hours after Hariri\u2019s interview, which appeared on a TV station he owns, Hezbollah had still not commented on his remarks. Hezbollah\u2019s allies in Iran said Hariri\u2019s remarks gave hope he would return to Lebanon.<\/p>\n

In his resignation speech Hariri, whose father, also a former prime minister, was killed by a bomb in 2005, said he feared assassination.<\/p>\n

He said in his interview eight days later that he was free to leave Saudi Arabia but that his movements were also guided by concern for his family\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

Hariri\u2019s Future Movement political party said on Monday it saw his plan to return to Beirut within days as a \u201cgood sign\u201d and a step on the road to repairing Lebanon\u2019s foreign relations.<\/p>\n

In a televised statement, Future Movement lawmaker Ammar Houri said it supported Hariri\u2019s statement that Lebanon should stay out of regional conflicts and reject Iran\u2019s interference.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia denies that it coerced Hariri into resigning or has kept him from leaving. It has accused Lebanon of declaring war on it because of Hezbollah and has advised Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon. Hezbollah says it was the Saudis who have declared war on Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Hariri\u2019s comments encouraged a recovery on Monday in Lebanese dollar bonds, which slumped last week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT Nov 14 (TNS): Lebanese President Michel Aoun \u2014 who has refused to accept Saad Hariri\u2019s resignation as prime minister unless Hariri returns from Saudi Arabia \u2014 welcomed comments from Hariri that he plans to come home soon, palace sources and visitors said. Hariri \u2014 who threw Lebanon into political crisis by reading out his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1312,19],"tags":[1313,733],"class_list":["post-30802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beirut","category-world","tag-beirut","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30804,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802\/revisions\/30804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}