Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has not postponed his Monday visit to Saudi Arabia and will seek to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, media reports said on Thursday.

Following talks between al-Rahi and President Michel Aoun in Baabda, presidential palace sources said “al-Rahi's visit to Saudi Arabia is still scheduled” and that the patriarch “will seek to meet with PM Saad Hariri to inquire about his situation.”

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday demanded the return of Prime Minister Saad Hariri from Saudi Arabia, where he announced days ago his shock resignation.

"Today we demand the return to the nation of our Prime Minister Saad Hariri," tweeted Bassil.

Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc on Thursday called on Saudi Arabia to stay out of Lebanese affairs, saying the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, announced from Riyadh over the weekend, "has raised many questions."

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc said Saudi Arabia was mired in crisis after the “failure” of its 2 ½-year military intervention in Yemen, which has led to a military stalemate.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement on Thursday announced that Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon is “necessary” in order to “restore respect for Lebanon's balance at home and abroad.”

“The return of the head of the Lebanese government, the national leader and the head of al-Mustaqbal Movement Saad Hariri is necessary to restore respect for Lebanon's balance at home and abroad, in the framework of full respect for the Lebanese legitimacy represented in the Constitution and the Taef Accord and in respecting the Arab and international legitimacies,” said Mustaqbal in a statement issued after an emergency meeting for its parliamentary bloc and political bureau.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday ordered its citizens out of Lebanon amid skyrocketing tensions between the kingdom, its regional foe Iran and Tehran's Lebanese ally Hizbullah.

A brief statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency called on all Saudis living in or visiting Lebanon to depart “as soon as possible,” citing “the current situations in the Lebanese republic.” It also warned Saudis against travel to the country.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri received at his residence in Riyadh on Thursday the French ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Francois Gouyette, his media office said.

On Wednesday, Hariri received the head of the European Union delegation to the Kingdom, Michele Cervone d'Urso.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed Thursday that the Lebanese are not “sheep” and that “politics in Lebanon is governed by elections not pledges of allegiance,” when asked about reports that Riyadh is seeking to replace Prime Minister Saad Hariri with his brother Bahaeddine as leader of the al-Mustaqbal Movement.

“Lebanon is going through a major national crisis that requires constant consultation with the mufti and agreement on steps aimed at reaching a common vision regarding the issue of the government,” said Mashnouq after talks at Dar al-Fatwa with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan.

President Michel Aoun is likely to launch an initiative “demanding the help of foreign states” to “end the ambiguity” surrounding the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his “will for free movement,” amid reports that Saudi Arabia wants the Hariri family and al-Mustaqbal Movement to “pledge allegiance” to Hariri's brother Bahaeddine.

The Internal Security Forces said it arrested two drug dealers on Tuesday in Metn's Mkalles area, it said in a statement released on Thursday.

The agency stated that it was on a mission to clamp down on a drug gang that works for a senior dealer nicknamed Abu Sale when it arrested the suspects, two Syrian nationals.

Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh on Thursday said the content of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's resignation text came to remind how Lebanon's national unity government used to be before “turning towards another axis in the region.”