Lebanon’s Hariri in Cyprus for talks ahead of return home

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri stopped off late Tuesday in Cyprus on his way back to his home country, following his surprise resignation amid an escalating regional crisis.

A statement from his press office in Beirut said Hariri flew in from Cairo to meet President Nicos Anastasiades for talks on “the latest developments in Lebanon and the region.”

Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides tweeted that the two leaders had a “warm and fruitful” meeting.

Hariri has been absent from Lebanon since his November 4 resignation in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia sparked rumors he was being held there against his will, which both he and Saudi officials have denied.

The Lebanese premier has said he would be in Beirut for the country’s independence day celebrations on Wednesday, and that he would clarify his position once he had returned home.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hariri’s media office said he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who has sought to defuse the tensions between Hariri’s sponsors in Saudi Arabia and the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons.

In a terse televised news conference before he departed Cairo, Hariri thanked Sissi for his support and said he would not elaborate on his resignation until he reached Beirut for independence day celebrations on Wednesday.

Hariri said he and Sissi discussed the need for “distancing oneself from regional policies,” in an apparent reference to the power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has played out in his country.

“Tomorrow we have independence day in Lebanon, God willing it will be for all Lebanese. Like I said in Paris, my political position will be (clarified) in Lebanon,” he said.