Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan said Monday that Riyadh “has not backtracked” on its stances, when asked about the conciliatory tone that characterized Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Sunday interview.

Al-Sabhan, a firebrand Saudi official who had posted several anti-Hizbullah and anti-Iran tweets in recent months, was speaking to reporters during his reception of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi at the King Salman air base in Riyadh.

The European Union on Monday called for an end to external interference in Lebanon, after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned unexpectedly, triggering rumors he was being held against his will in Saudi Arabia.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Monday called on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to return to Lebanon as he urged a “roadmap” for Hizbullah's controversial arsenal of arms.

“Hariri should return quickly to Lebanon to put his stances into practice from Lebanese territory regarding the constitutional or political steps that he wants to take. We want Hariri to make his steps in Lebanon and not from any other place,” Gemayel said at a press conference.

When Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia last weekend, it stunned Lebanon and created a mystery that lasted for more than a week. On Sunday, another TV appearance by Hariri was filled with bizarre moments.

The Nov. 4 resignation triggered a political crisis in Lebanon, along with rumors about whether Hariri was under house arrest or being coerced to quit. Although he met with various ambassadors in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in the days that followed, no one in Lebanon was really sure what was happening to him.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Monday said there was a danger of Lebanon falling back into "political and sometimes military confrontations."

"In order to prevent this we need especially the return of the current prime minister (Saad Hariri), reconciliation in the country and the prevention of influence from outside," he said.

A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry on Monday categorically denied interfering in Lebanon's politics, saying that his country hopes Prime Minister Saad Hariri will return to Lebanon soon.

"Lebanon's internal affairs concern Lebanon, and we never intervene in the internal affairs of other countries," Bahram Ghassemi said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi kicked off a trip to Saudi Arabia on Monday where he is scheduled to hold talks with King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri who has been in Riyadh since his shock resignation on Nov. 4.

The British Embassy in Lebanon on Monday held a ‘Remembrance Day’ service at the Beirut Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in honor of the soldiers who were killed during World Wars I and II, and in other conflicts.

The service was attended by British Ambassador Hugo Shorter; British Defense Attaché Lt. Col. Chris Gunning; Brig.-Gen. Ali al-Hennawi, representing Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun; Lt. Col. Samer al-Beani, representing Head of the Internal Security Forces Major General Imad Othman; and Brig.- Gen. Labib Ashkouti, representing the Director General of the General Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim. Ambassadors, diplomats and military attachés of U.S., European and Commonwealth countries were present.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reiterated in talks with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil, the UK's support for Lebanon and that the country should not be used as a tool for proxy conflicts, a press release said on Monday.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Monday that “Lebanon’s stability should be restored as soon as possible” as he urged everyone to avoid “intervening in the country’s internal affairs.”