MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said on Friday a crisis triggered by the resignation of the country’s prime minister in Saudi Arabia was part of an "attempt to create chaos in the region.”
Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, plunging Lebanon into a political crisis. He has yet to return to Beirut and is expected to leave Saudi Arabia this weekend for France.
Bassil is touring European and other capitals seeking diplomatic help to end the crisis.
"We will respond and we have the full capacities to do so, but we hope it doesn’t get to that,” Bassil was quoted as saying here.
French officials said they did not know how long Hariri would stay before returning to Beirut, but hoped his visit would help ease the crisis by demonstrating he was not being held in Saudi Arabia.
Bassil said on Friday some forces were trying to oust the leader of the country, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
"Some sides are trying to use certain forces in order to displace the leader of Lebanon,” Interfax quoted Bassil as telling his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Bassil said his country’s sovereignty is not for sale and the country will respond to any attempts at outside interference
The minister said he hopes Hariri, who resigned as prime minister on Nov. 4, would return to Beirut after he completes his visit to France.
The main aim now, Bassil said, is that Hariri can return to Lebanon without any conditions or restrictions on his freedom and, once back in Lebanon, he can decide whether to step down as the prime minister.
Hariri should still be considered as Lebanon’s serving prime minister and his visit to France was aimed solely at securing his return to Lebanon, the foreign minister said.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has said Hariri is being detained in Saudi Arabia against his will - despite the premier's reassurances he would return home soon.
On Friday, Hariri dismissed reports about his alleged detention in Saudi Arabia as "rumors," hours before he was expected to leave the kingdom to France.
Hariri's televised resignation from Riyadh stunned the Lebanese, many of whom saw it as a sign that the kingdom had decided to drag tiny Lebanon into the kingdom's feud with the regional countries.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said there would be no stability in Lebanon unless Hezbollah disarmed.
"This is what we hope,” Adel al-Jubeir said at a press conference in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart. It was the second day in a row that the Saudi minister railed against Hezbollah.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Friday against foreign interference in Lebanese affairs. He said that "Russia invariably stands for supporting the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon."
He added that the crisis should be settled internally in Lebanon, without foreign interference, and through dialogue.
Bassil has been touring European capitals to lobby for Hariri’s return. On Thursday, he warned that Lebanon should not be treated as a plaything by any country.
"Lebanon is not a toy in others’ hands,” the Lebanese foreign minister said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel in Berlin.
Gabriel said he shared concerns about the threat of instability and bloodshed in Lebanon and, without mentioning Saudi Arabia directly, warned against the "adventurism” behind the Lebanon crisis and the "human tragedy in Yemen.”
"We expect that Prime Minister Hariri can come back to Beirut,” he added.
Bassil, for his part, said, the "Hariri issue is actually a matter of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” and called on Arab countries to "not interfere with Lebanon’s internal matters.”
The Lebanese foreign minister also said further turmoil in his country, which is already hosting thousands of refugees fleeing violence in neighboring Syria, would create a new influx of asylum seekers to Europe.
Bassil also visited Turkey, where Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged Hariri’s "immediate” return.
"We support Lebanon’s unity, integrity and stability, and we oppose any development that would risk Lebanon’s stability,” he said.
"Lebanon does not need any other problems. On the contrary, we need to contribute to the solution of the existing problems.”