Report: Aoun Mulling 'Complaint to UN' Over Hariri's Fate

President Michel Aoun could file a complaint to the UN Security Council if Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who resigned last week from Riyadh, did not return to Beirut and the circumstances surrounding his stay in Saudi Arabia are not clarified, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Aoun has told the diplomatic delegations he met, that he “would not wait more than a week to clarify the fate of Hariri before he refers the file to the international community,” informed sources told the daily.

They added “there are international preparations to assist Lebanon in this endeavor, in an implicit reference to Russian and other Western preparations.”

Baabda circles said that “Aoun was clear and frank in talks with the International Support Group for Lebanon (on Friday) and explained the circumstances that accompanied the resignation.

“He was surprised to hear from the prime minister last Saturday that he can no longer bear the situation and that he will be in Beirut within two or three days. But since then no contact between the two men was made whatsoever.”

Baabda circles elaborated to say that the President has “expressed extreme concern over the circumstances of Hariri's stay in Saudi Arabia, he said “Lebanon awaits for the ISG assistance to secure Hariri's return because what is happening harms the the dignity of Lebanon and the Lebanese.””

Hariri resigned in a shock announcement broadcast from Riyadh on Saturday as a power struggle intensified between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which backs Lebanon's Hizbullah.