Beirut to stay neutral in regional conflicts
baabda (Lebanon) — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Tuesday that he had withdrawn his resignation, a month after his shock announcement that he was quitting sparked political upheaval.
The announcement brought some respite to Lebanon, which had been gripped by fears of new political and economic instability in a country riven by deep divisions and caught up in regional rivalries.
Minutes after Hariri’s announcement, Paris said the Lebanese premier would attend talks on Friday in France on the situation in Lebanon, which US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will also attend.
“The council of ministers thanks the prime minister for rescinding his resignation,” Hariri said, reading from a cabinet statement issued after its first meeting since his return two weeks ago. Lebanon’s cabinet reaffirmed its official policy of “disassociation”, or remaining neutral in regional conflicts.
“The Lebanese government, in all its political components, has committed to distance itself from all conflicts, wars, and internal affairs of Arab states,” according to the cabinet statement. This “disas- sociation” is intended to “preserve Lebanon’s political and economic relations with its Arab brothers”, it added. “A reaffirmation of Lebanese ‘disassociation’, notwithstanding its manifest hypocrisy and the impossibility of it being translated concretely, makes it possible to save face and win a little time,” said Karim Bitar, an expert. —
Lebanese prime minister
We see how the region is boiling and we must be aware that any misstep could bring the country to a dangerous precipice
Saad Hariri,