Michel Sleiman, Lebanon's president, has asked Saad al-Hariri to remain as a caretaker prime minister until the country's political crisis is resolved, according to Lebanon's national news agency.
Sleiman's announcement on Thursday comes as Hariri prepares to return to Lebanon to confront a government that has effectively collapsed following the withdrawal of the Hezbollah-led opposition bloc from his cabinet.
In response to the crisis, Hariri cut short a visit to Washington DC, during which he met with US president Barack Obama. He is set to meet with French president Nicholas Sarkozy on Thursday night before returning to Lebanon on Friday.
Lebanon's opposition, the so-called March 8 coalition between Hezbollah and other parties, including the predominantly Christian Free Patriotic Movement, resigned from the cabinet over disagreements stemming from a UN investigation into the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and Saad al-Hariri's father.
Sleiman's announcement on Thursday comes as Hariri prepares to return to Lebanon to confront a government that has effectively collapsed following the withdrawal of the Hezbollah-led opposition bloc from his cabinet.
In response to the crisis, Hariri cut short a visit to Washington DC, during which he met with US president Barack Obama. He is set to meet with French president Nicholas Sarkozy on Thursday night before returning to Lebanon on Friday.
Lebanon's opposition, the so-called March 8 coalition between Hezbollah and other parties, including the predominantly Christian Free Patriotic Movement, resigned from the cabinet over disagreements stemming from a UN investigation into the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and Saad al-Hariri's father.
