PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Saad Hariri for talks Saturday, an AFP reporter said, hours after the Lebanese premier arrived from Saudi Arabia in the midst of a political crisis.

Hariri, who made a resignation announcement on November 4 and has since fended off claims he was being held in Saudi Arabia against his will, was also due to have lunch with Macron.

Macron has been attempting to help broker a solution to a political crisis that has raised fears over Lebanon’s fragile democracy.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has refused to accept Hariri’s resignation while he remains abroad, and Macron said ahead of the talks that he would be welcomed “with the honors due to a prime minister.”

Aoun said on Saturday that he had spoken by telephone to the premier after his arrival in Paris, and that Hariri said he would be back in Lebanon for Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday.

VIDEO: Saad Hariri and his family meet French President Macron at Elysee

