Hariri meets Macron for talks
18 Nov 2017 4:13 PM GMT
PARIS: Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon's prime minister this month while in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Paris on Saturday as part of French mediation efforts aimed at trying to ease tensions across the region. Hariri's resignation on November 4 threw Lebanon into political crisis and put it centre-stage in the Middle East's overarching rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies and a bloc led by Shi'ite Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed Hariri with a warm embrace at the Elysee Palace for talks and a family lunch, leveraged France's close relations with both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to secure a deal that saw Hariri travel to Paris and open the door to a resolution of the crisis. Hariri, who arrived at his residence in Paris in the early hours of the morning, told Lebanese President Michel Aoun in a phone call from Paris that he would be in Lebanon on Wednesday for Independence Day celebrations, Aoun said on Twitter.
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