Lebanese PM invited to France amid crisis

BEIRUT — French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday invited Saad Hariri and his family to come to France after the Lebanese prime minister’s surprise resignation earlier this month, amid allegations Saudi Arabia is holding him prisoner.

Hariri’s older brother, meanwhile, broke his silence over the premier’s shock resignation announced from Riyadh earlier this month, after speculation the elder Hariri was being groomed by Saudi Arabia to fill the post.

Bahaa Hariri, in a statement to The Associated Press, said he supported his brother’s resignation and thanked Saudi Arabia for “decades of support” for Lebanon’s institutions. He accused Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of seeking to “take control of Lebanon.”

Hariri declined to comment further in a phone call with the AP.

France, Lebanon’s onetime colonial ruler, has been trying to mediate in the crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Macron said he was not offering Hariri political “exile,” but it was paramount to dispel fears that Saudi Arabia had taken the Lebanese premier prisoner.

“We need to have leaders who are free to express themselves,” said Macron. “It’s important that [Hariri] is able to advance the political process in his country in the coming days and weeks.”

An official in the French president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be named publicly, said Hariri is expected to travel to France in the coming days with his family.

Macron said the invitation was extended to the premier after discussion between the two and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Lebanon’s president had earlier accused the Gulf kingdom of detaining Hariri, calling it an act of “aggression” and asking U.N. Security Council nations and European governments to intervene.