Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri accepts Macron’s invitation to France | DW |
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri will travel to France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“He will come to France and the prince has been informed,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday in Riyadh, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Asked about the date of the trip, Le Drian replied, “Mr. Hariri’s schedule is a matter for Mr. Hariri.” An official at the French president’s office said Hariri was expected in the coming days.
Speaking alongside Le Drian, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Hariri could leave Saudi Arabia when he pleases.
“The resigned Lebanese prime minister is living in Saudi Arabia of his own free will. He is the one who decides on his return to Lebanon,” he said.No exile offered
Lebanese President Michael Aoun welcomed the announcement. He said on Thursday that he hoped Hariri’s eventual return from France would end the country’s ongoing political crisis.
“I am awaiting the return of Prime Minister Hariri from Paris for us to decide the next step with regards to the government,” he said.
Speaking to journalists in Bonn where Macron was attending the COP23 climate summit, the French president had said on Wednesday that Hariri and his family had been invited to spend “a few days” in France but he was not offering Hariri political exile.
It was essential, Macron said, to dispel fears that Saudi Arabia had taken the Lebanese leader 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.”
- ○ Lebanon’s ex-PM Saad Hariri accepts Macron’s invitation to visit France| France24 |
Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Sept. 1, 2017
Paris has offered exile to global leaders before with mixed results …
○ Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years exile (1979)
○ ‘A Darker Horizon’: The Assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar (1991)
Will his family accompany him to Paris or do they have to remain in KSA?
Could this have been designed to increase support for Hariri in Lebanon? That does seem to be working, but why would he be trusted back home when the ruse couldn’t have been executed without Hariri’s full participation?
Especially added the France24 link … headline has been updated!
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I doubt this will convince any Lebanese that Hariri isn’t being kidnapped by the Saudis. Hariri is incredibly wealthy, with a good chunk of the wealth in KSA. He is also a dual citizen (Leb+KSA). The Saudis have probably made it clear to him that he will lose his money and possibly his life, if he returns to Lebanon at this time.
I just dont see what the endgame here is. Sure they can bomb a Hezbollah-led Lebanon to smithereens (or watch Israel do it), but what then? Then again, MBS has shown that he doesn’t do endgames in anything else either.
Ah — twist this around, upside down, and inside out and it still doesn’t compute does it? That to me indicates one of two possibilities: 1) MbS (in agreement with Kusher and Bibi) seized an opportunity and hasn’t a clue how it will facilitate a fantasy goal or 2) it is what it is, Hariri has handed over Lebanon to KSA and he, his family, and his wealth will only be released when Lebanon has been officially remade into a US-Irael-KSA puppet state and launching pad to restart the takeover of Syria and Iran.
Exactly!
The STL in The Hague still doesn’t know who is responsible for the Rafiq Hariri assassination – 12 years on!