Lebanon's Hariri leaves Saudi capital for France: Lebanese TV

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has left the Saudi capital Riyadh for France some two weeks after he announced his abrupt resignation in a televised address from the Arab country, Lebanese television says.

"Mr. Hariri left Riyadh airport on his private jet with his wife and is headed for Le Bourget airport," northeast of Paris, reported Future TV, which is owned by Hariri's family, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A source close to Hariri said that based on the flight schedule, the PM would arrive at the French airport at around 7:00 a.m.

In a rare English tweet before departure from the Saudi capital, Hariri singled out German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who had expressed doubt that the Lebanese PM was free enough to leave the Arab kingdom. “We expect that Prime Minister Hariri can come back to Beirut,” the top German diplomat had said on Friday.

“I am on the way to the airport Mr. Sigmar Gabriel,” Hariri said in his tweet posted in the early hours of Saturday.

A member of Hariri's political party and two Lebanese TV stations said that he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials before leaving the Arab kingdom.

A few hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said since Lebanon had not recognized Hariri’s November 4 resignation, France would receive him "with the honors due a prime minister."

SS