{"id":11350,"date":"2017-11-11T16:01:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=11350"},"modified":"2017-11-11T16:01:41","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T16:01:41","slug":"lebanese-president-says-hariri-has-been-kidnapped-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/lebanese-president-says-hariri-has-been-kidnapped-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese president says Hariri has been ‘kidnapped’: Official"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Lebanese President Michel Aoun says Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, has been \u201ckidnapped\u201d and must have immunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aoun made the remarks in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the capital Beirut, a senior unnamed Lebanese official told Reuters on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a statement released by Aoun’s office on Saturday, the Lebanese president expressed concern over Hariri’s situation and said the premier was living in a \u201cdubious\u201d situation in Saudi Arabia. He added that anything Hariri has said or may say \u201cdoes not reflect reality\u201d due to the mystery of his situation.<\/p>\n

Any stance or move by Hariri \u201cis the result of the dubious and mysterious situation that he is living in the kingdom,\u201d Aoun said.<\/p>\n

Aoun further called on Riyadh to clarify why Hariri hasn’t returned home since announcing his resignation in the kingdom last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLebanon does not accept its prime minister being in a situation at odds with international treaties and the standard rules in relations between states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that a marathon planned in Beirut on Sunday in which tens of thousands are expected to participate should be \u201ca national sports demonstration for solidarity with Prime Minister Hariri and his return to his country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
PressTV-\u2018Saudi in open war on Lebanon with Hariri arrest\u2019<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Hezbollah chief says Saudi Arabia has openly declared a war on Lebanon by keeping Prime Minister Saad Hariri under house arrest.<\/a><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, the Arabic-language al-Joumhouria (The Republic) daily newspaper quoted Aoun as saying on Saturday that Beirut would refer Hariri\u2019s case to the UN Security Council within a week if his destiny remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Separately on Saturday, Aoun talked on the phone with the French president, during which Emmanuel Macron expressed his country\u2019s commitment to Lebanon’s \u201cunity, sovereignty and independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in a statement on Saturday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Washington called upon \u201call states and parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, and constitutional processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Posters depicting Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri are seen in Beirut, Lebanon, November 11, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hariri announced his resignation on November 4, citing several reasons, including the security situation in Lebanon, for his sudden decision. He also said that he realized a plot being hatched against his life.<\/p>\n

Hariri also accused Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, of meddling in the Arab countries\u2019 affairs; an allegation the two have rejected.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese prime minister announced his resignation following visits to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The resignation also comes less than a month after he announced plans to join a coalition government with Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Iran said Hariri\u2019s resignation and rehashing of the \u201cunfounded and baseless\u201d allegations regularly leveled by Zionists, Saudis and the US were another scenario aimed at creating new tensions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Many authorities in Lebanon have insisted on the return of Hariri from Saudi Arabia. Several sources believe that Saudi Arabia is holding Hariri against his will, a claim the kingdom has rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lebanese President Michel Aoun says Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, has been \u201ckidnapped\u201d and must have immunity. Aoun made the remarks in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the capital Beirut, a senior unnamed Lebanese official told Reuters on Saturday. Meanwhile, in a statement released by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11352,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11350\/revisions\/11352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}