Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri officially rescinded his resignation on Tuesday, reversing his shock decision last month to step down, his press office told CNN.
Hariri surprised the nation by announcing he was quitting his post in a televised address from the Saudi capital of Riyadh in early November. But two weeks ago, Hariri arrived back in Beirut and said he would suspend his resignation at the request of his government.
On Tuesday, Hariri revoked his resignation after all factions of the Lebanese government — including the militant group Hezbollah, with whom he shares power — agreed to stay out of regional conflicts, his press office said.
Hariri said in a statement that his cabinet had reached a consensus to “exclude” itself from “any disputes, conflicts, wars, or the internal affairs of Arab states.”
“All the groups in the government, in the cabinet, reaffirmed their commitment to the disassociation, so the policy in not interfering other countries’ affairs,” Hariri’s press office told CNN.
There are several Hezbollah ministers in Hariri’s cabinet, and his statement on Tuesday suggested that the group, which has fighters in Syria, had also agreed to stay out of the affairs of other Arab states.
“There is no comment yet,” a spokesperson for Hezbollah told CNN when reached on Tuesday afternoon.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has come under fire in recent years from local political groups and regional powerhouses including Saudi Arabia for its involvement in Syria, where it has helped to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Saudi Arabia has also accused Hezbollah of supporting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, a charge that Hezbollah denies.
Hariri’s resignation last month was widely seen to have been orchestrated by Saudi Arabia. In his televised address at the time, Hariri said: “I want to tell Iran and its followers that they are losing their interferences in the Arab nation’s affairs. Our nation will rise just as it did before and the hands that want to harm it will be cut.”