Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri will visit France, having accepted French President Emmanuel Macron's invitation. He is expected to leave Saudi Arabia for France on Saturday, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said on Thursday. 

The French presidential office said on Wednesday that Hariri and his family had been invited to France for a "few days" but that did not mean he would stay there in exile.

Macron has stressed that Hariri should be able to return to Lebanon to confirm or withdraw his resignation in person. 

"He will come to France, and the prince has been informed," France's Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian told reporters, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with whom he held talks late on Wednesday.

France is working to normalise the situation in Lebanon and Prime Minister Saad Hariri can come to France whenever he wants, Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.

"Hariri, who I will see later, is invited to France with his family by President Macron. He will come to France when he wants and as soon as he wants. He will be welcome as a friend," Le Drian told a news conference in Riyadh.

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun tweeted on Thursday that he hoped the country's political crisis was over following Hariri's acceptance of a French invitation to visit Paris.

Hariri is free to leave

Lebanese President Michel Aoun had accused Saudi Arabia on Wednesday of detaining Hariri after what he said was his failure to return home for 12 days.

But on Thursday, Aoun said the announcement that Hariri would travel to France for talks with President Emmanuel Macron could be "the start of a solution."

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir rejected accusations that his country was holding Hariri against his will, saying the Lebanese prime minister who resigned earlier this month was free to leave when he wants.

"... Hariri lives in the kingdom by his own will and he resigned; regarding his return to Lebanon, it is up to him and his assessment to the security situation [in Lebanon]." Jubeir told a joint news conference in Riyadh with French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian.