‘Stability is red line after Lebanon PM resigns’

BEIRUT / Reuters

Lebanon’s president stressed that stability is “a red line” after the prime minister’s shock resignation, Justice Minister Salim Jreissati said on Monday after meeting the president. Saudi King Salman received Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in Riyadh on Monday, two days after he quit, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported.
In a televised speech, Hariri had said he feared an assassination plot against him and accused Iran along with its Leba-nese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. His resignation stunned Beirut’s political establishment, brought down the coalition government and sparked a new political crisis.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun convened a meeting with ministers and top security officials at the Baabda palace on Monday to assess the security situation. Aoun told them political leaders had been responsive to calls for calm, strengthening security and national unity, his office said.
The president will take no steps regarding the prime minister’s resignation before Hariri returns from abroad, the justice
minister said at a press conference after the meeting. Aoun said security, economic, financial, and political stability is “a red
line”, Jreissati said.
“The president is waiting for Hariri’s return to hear from
him personally. This indicates a sovereign vision…and that the resignation must be voluntary in every sense.” Aoun was also set to meet the finance minister and central bank governor later on Monday.