RIYADH: The head of Lebanon’s Maronite church, in a historic visit to Saudi Arabia, voiced support on Tuesday for Prime Minister Saad Hariri over his resignation, which tipped his country into crisis.

Beshara Rai arrived in Riyadh on Monday in the first trip to the kingdom by a senior Lebanese figure since Hariri quit on November 4 in a shock announcement from the Saudi capital.

Hariri had cited fears for his life and accused Hezbollah, the powerful Shia movement that is part of his government but close to Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival Iran, of controlling Lebanon.

“I am convinced by the reasons for his resignation,” Rai said. “He will return to Lebanon as soon as possible.”

Many observers suspected Riyadh had ordered him to resign, and senior Lebanese politicians have alleged he is under de facto house arrest in the capital. But in his first tweet in several days on Tuesday, Hariri brushed aside those allegations.

“Everybody, I’m totally fine. God willing, I’ll be back in these two days. Let’s calm down,” he wrote. He added that his family would stay in Saudi Arabia, calling it “their country”.

Hariri’s resignation came against the backdrop of mounting tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in conflicts and power struggles from Syria to Yemen.

Rai’s trip to Saudi Arabia, though overshadowed by Hariri’s resignation, is significant as it symbolises a rare inter-religious exchange in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Rai is the top cleric in Lebanon’s powerful Maronite community, and is regularly consulted by both Christian and non-Christian political figures as well as receiving foreign dignitaries when they visit the country.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia, he met King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.

The patriarch and the king “reviewed fraternal relations between the kingdom and Lebanon and confirmed the importance of the role of different religions and cultures in promoting tolerance, renouncing violence, extremism and terrorism,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.

Separately, Saudi Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan said the Maronite patriarch’s visit “stresses the kingdom’s approach for peaceful co-existence, closeness and openness for all sections of Arabic people.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was “worried by the situation in Lebanon” and wanted to see the government there “stabilise as quickly as possible”.

Le Drian is set to visit Riyadh on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017