by AFP – Saad Hariri has pledged he will return to Lebanon from Saudi Arabia “very soon,” in his first television interview since his shock resignation as prime minister eight days ago.In an interview from Riyadh with his party’s Future TV on Sunday, Hariri brushed aside rumours that he was under de facto house arrest in Saudi Arabia. “I am free here. If I want to travel tomorrow, I will,” Hariri told the journalist Paula Yacoubian. “I will return to Lebanon very soon to initiate the necessary constitutional procedures,” Hariri said.

Just hours before Hariri’s interview, Aoun blasted the “obscure circumstances” around the resigned prime minister’s stay in Riyadh. In a statement from his office, Aoun said: “Hariri’s freedom has been restricted and conditions have been imposed regarding his residence and the contacts he may have, even with members of his family.”