The Middle East is consumed with a real-life thriller over the fate of Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, who abruptly resigned—on a Saudi television station, on November 4th, after being summoned to Riyadh. Hariri cited fears of an assassination attempt and blasted Hezbollah and Iran for meddling in Lebanese affairs. Then, holed up in the kingdom, he went silent, even to his own Future Movement party back in Beirut. For eight days, the news dominated headlines, spawned conspiracy theories, deepened regional tensions, and even triggered fears of yet another war. The front page of a Lebanese tabloid ran a full-page photo of Hariri with the caption “Hostage.”

Hariri’s mysterious disappearance united Lebanon’s ever-squabbling political leaders. The Christian President, Michel Aoun, rejected the resignation unless Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, delivered it in person. In a televised speech, the Shiite leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said that the resignation was “illegal and unconstitutional” because it “was made under coercion.” Politicians from across Lebanon’s eighteen sects expressed suspicions about the implications for Hariri, the country, and the region. On Sunday, Beirut’s annual marathon turned into a kind of liberation rally for Hariri. Thousands of runners and spectators from different sects carried “Waiting for you” signs. Banners declared “Running for you.” Hariri had run in previous marathons.

Even the Trump Administration got involved. On Saturday, during the President’s Asia tour, the White House took time to issue a statement describing Hariri as “a trusted partner” of the United States. It called on “all states and parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, and constitutional processes.” The statement was widely interpreted as a rebuke of Saudi Arabia, a centerpiece of Trump’s Middle East policy, even as it criticized unnamed militias that “undermine Lebanese government institutions, or use Lebanon as a base from which to threaten others in the region,” an almost certain allusion to Hezbollah.

Hariri’s resignation came amid a sweeping power play by Saudi Arabia’s young Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to eliminate domestic opposition and strengthen the desert kingdom’s command in the Middle East. As part of the process, the autocratic monarchy has escalated a campaign against theocratic Iran, its regional rival. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the guardian of the faith’s holiest sites, in Mecca and Medina, is the centerpiece of the Sunni world. Iran has the world’s largest Shiite population.

As Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hariri had come to symbolize compromise between the two sectarian adversaries. The son of a former Lebanese Prime Minister, who was assassinated in 2005, Hariri became Prime Minister a year ago, for the second time, in a deal that ended a two-year political crisis during which the country had no President.

In the 2016 deal, Hariri—a Sunni ally of Saudi Arabia, where he was born and his father made billions in construction—became Prime Minister. Aoun—a Maronite Christian, former Army general, and ally of Hezbollah—became President. Shiite Hezbollah, as in the past, won Cabinet seats. Hariri’s ability to navigate the treacherous sectarian map was reflected in the run-up to his resignation in his meetings with Saudi officials in Riyadh and Ali Akbar Velayati, the top foreign-policy adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom Hariri hosted in Beirut. Hariri reportedly came away from the earlier Riyadh meetings feeling comfortable with the kingdom’s acceptance of the talks.

But the political realpolitik may have cost Hariri his job. He had been summoned to Saudi Arabia and then presented with a dictate to resign, senior diplomatic sources told me. The language was prescribed. He was prevented from returning to Beirut and his communications were restricted. Reuters reported that even his cell phone was confiscated.

The Trump statement, on Saturday, may have nudged the situation along. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis had spoken with their Saudi counterparts regarding the rapidly evolving crackdown in the kingdom and its regional entanglements, U.S. officials said. The evolving Saudi-Israeli alliance, nurtured by Trump, has been a backdrop to the current crisis. For decades, Lebanon has been a battleground for rival Middle East interests. Local media in Beirut have been rife with concern that Israel, now allied with Saudi Arabia, could confront Hezbollah, Iran’s biggest proxy in the Arab world, in Lebanon.

On Sunday, Hariri called a Lebanese reporter, who was en route to a vacation, to invite her to interview him in Riyadh for his party’s television station. Looking drawn, Hariri claimed that he was “free” to leave Saudi Arabia. “I was silent in order to allow people to absorb and reflect on the resignation and its repercussions,” he said. Hariri added that he might return to Beirut “within days” to fulfill the constitutional requirements of resigning—adding the caveat that “necessary security arrangements” had to be made first. He certainly has legitimate safety concerns. Hariri’s father, Rafiq, a former Prime Minister, was assassinated in a car bombing, in 2005, which launched Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution—a precursor to the start of the Arab Spring, in 2011.

“I am free to travel tomorrow if I wanted to,” Hariri said in the interview “But I have a family. I saw what happened when my father was martyred. I don’t want the same thing to happen to my children.” Hariri denied rampant reports of Saudi manipulation. “King Salman considers me like his son,” he said. “The Crown Prince has all the respect for me. The stability of Lebanon is an essential asset for King Salman and the Crown Prince.” He called his resignation “a positive shock. The danger in Lebanon still exists from several sources,” he added.

But Hariri’s language was vague, and the interview offered intriguing clues, such as the reporter’s note regarding breaking news of a major earthquake in Iraq—intended to show that it was happening in real time. She also asked about his Apple watch. Hariri is known for being a savvy techie. “Where is your Apple watch? You’re not wearing it?” the reported asked. Hariri replied, “It’s still here . . . still here.” At one point, Hariri appeared to be bordering on tears. “We are in the eye of the storm,” he said.

The interview did little to clarify the mystery. Some Lebanese channels refused to air it because of suspicions that the Prime Minister was speaking under duress. Hariri even suggested that he might rethink the resignation, after his possible return and following negotiations with his government peers—and if the government followed a policy of neutrality. The implication was a policy embraced and accepted by Saudi Arabia.