Lebanese leader says he will return home to seek settlement
BEIRUT—In his first TV interview since he announced his surprise resignation last weekend, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Sunday he will return to his country from Saudi Arabia “within days” to seek a settlement with the militant group Hezbollah, his rivals in his coalition government.
Hariri, looking downcast and tired, denied he was being held against his will in the kingdom and said he was compelled to resign to save Lebanon from imminent dangers, which he didn’t specify.
He held back tears at one point and repeated several times that he resigned to create a “positive shock” and draw attention to the danger of siding with Iran, Hezbollah’s main patron, in regional conflicts.
“We are in the eye of the storm,” Hariri said.
A political crisis has gripped Lebanon since Hariri read his televised resignation from Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 in which he accused Iran of meddling in his country in a vicious tirade that was uncharacteristic of the usually soft-spoken 47-year-old premier.
The live interview on Future TV was designed in part to dispel rumors that Hariri, who holds Lebanese and Saudi citizenship, was under house arrest by Saudi authorities, who have escalated their rhetoric against Iran and Hezbollah.
Many feared Saudi Arabia was dragging Lebanon into its rivalry with Iran and called for Hariri to return home to ensure he was acting of his own free will.
“I am free to travel tomorrow if I wanted to,” Hariri said.
“But I have a family. I saw what happened when my father was martyred. I don’t want the same thing to happen to my children.”
His father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 2005. Hezbollah members are being tried in absentia for the killing. Saad Hariri’s family lives in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Hariri sounded less belligerent in Sunday’s interview than he did during the resignation announcement. He said he realizes his resignation was unconventional, adding he was ready to return to formally submit it and seek a settlement with Hezbollah.
He suggested he may be willing to withdraw it but said that would be conditional on Hezbollah committing to remaining neutral on regional conflicts, putting the onus back on the militant group.