Hariri’s trip: A waystation, or an exile?
BEIRUT: An invitation to France may provide Lebanon’s resigned Prime Minister Saad Hariri with a way out of Saudi Arabia, but it could also spell the end of his political career, experts say. French President Emmanuel Macron appears to have come to Hariri’s rescue with the invitation, which comes after great speculation about whether the premier was being detained in Saudi Arabia after his surprise resignation delivered there November 4.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has even gone so far as to refer to the resigned prime minister as a “hostage” despite Hariri repeatedly denying claims of his detention. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Thursday that Hariri was free to leave Saudi “when he pleases”, in the first statement by a high-ranking Saudi official on the issue. Hariri’s resignation was quickly perceived as the latest round in a tug of war between Saudi Arabia, his longtime sponsor, and its regional arch-rival Iran.
It has raised deep concerns about the stability of Lebanon, which has long been riven by disagreements between Hariri’s bloc and that of his chief rival, the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. “Even if it doesn’t resolve the base of the problem, the French offer... allows both the Saudi authorities and Saad Hariri to save face,” Karim Bitar of the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Affairs said. The French-language daily L’Orient Le Jour said France had “achieved the unexpected by inviting Hariri” to leave Riyadh, where his family is also staying.
“The exit proposed by the French president... has lowered tensions a notch,” the daily said on Thursday. “A French way out,” added the An Nahar daily, while Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is highly critical of Hariri, said in a front page headline “Aoun and Macron free the prime minister”.
While the invitation may have eased some of the tensions caused by the usual circumstances of Hariri’s resignation, it has also raised questions about his future. Macron was quick to dismiss speculation that Hariri was going into “exile” in France, but there has also been no confirmation that Paris will simply be a waystation en route back to Lebanon. Hariri has for days insisted he is free to move and will soon return to Lebanon, but has shown little sign yet that he will be coming back soon.
“The fact that the Elysee was forced to deny that it would be an exile says a lot about the spy novel aspects of this exfiltration,” said Bitar. “Paradoxically, it reinforces the suspicions of those who think that Saad Hariri is indeed a man under very intense pressure,” he added. — AFP