BFF-65 Saudi Arabia rejects Macron comment over Hariri ‘detention’

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Saudi Arabia rejects Macron comment over Hariri ‘detention’

RIYADH, May 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Arabia on Tuesday rejected French
President Emmanuel Macron’s comment that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
had been held against his will in the kingdom in November.

Hariri announced on November 4 that he was stepping down in a televised
address from Riyadh, only to rescind it the following month after Macron’s
intervention.

In an interview broadcast Friday by French broadcaster BFMTV, Macron
described how he waded into the crisis after Hariri resigned, allegedly under
pressure from the Saudi crown prince.

“Lebanon has since emerged from a serious crisis where, as I recall, a
prime minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks,” Macron said.

On Tuesday, a Saudi foreign ministry spokesman denied that Hariri was held
against his will.

“What the French president said in an interview with channel BFMTV that the
kingdom had held Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is incorrect,” he was
quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was and still supports the stability and
security of Lebanon and Prime Minister Hariri,” he said.

The spokesman went on to accuse Saudi regional rival Iran and its powerful
Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, of stoking instability in Lebanon.

Macron’s mediation in the crisis, which led Hariri to travel to Paris and
then rescind his resignation, was seen by analysts as exposing the limits of
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s authority.

During a his first visit to France in April as the heir to the Saudi
throne, the prince and Macron hailed a warming of ties between Paris and
Riyadh but conceded some differences over Iran.

BSS/AFP/RY/1630 hrs