Intensive Consultation Prior to Hariri's Return

A picture taken with a cellphone shows French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Valerie Leroux/AFP/Getty Images
A picture taken with a cellphone shows French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Valerie Leroux/AFP/Getty Images
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Intensive Consultation Prior to Hariri's Return

A picture taken with a cellphone shows French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Valerie Leroux/AFP/Getty Images
A picture taken with a cellphone shows French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Valerie Leroux/AFP/Getty Images

The return of outgoing prime minister Saad Hariri to Beirut is anticipated by political circles in Lebanon to get to know his standpoint that would be announced following his participation in the Independence Day celebration and after meeting Lebanese President Michel Aoun to hand him out the written resignation.

With this step, Lebanon will enter a new phase of movements and consultation to contain the resignation consequences and try to reactivate the political settlement, which was toppled by “Hezbollah” that got involved in the regions’ wars.

In alignment with Hariri's consultation with his political team and advisers in Paris to be followed by a visit to Cairo on Tuesday to meet Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, there is an active political movement in Beirut to fill the gap caused by the resignation.

According to sources close to Hariri, he will most probably to stick to his resignation and seek ways to avail tension in Lebanon, especially after the Arab foreign affairs ministers strongly worded statement towards “Hezbollah”.

All parties appear to be fret about the coming phase. MP and former minister Boutros Harb stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that “A change is looming in the horizon for Lebanon, the question is, what is that change? From where will it come? What impact does it have on the political life in Lebanon?”

Hariri’s resignation won't pass without any consequences, but none can foresee the size of the problem, added Harb.

Former MP Fares Said declared that now Lebanon is in the phase of causes behind the resignation that are “the truth and the core of the crisis.”

In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, he added that some are relying on the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese president as he might be able to force some concessions from “Hezbollah”, leading to an internal ease.

Many believe that “Hezbollah” won't change his policy, therefore the Lebanese condition is heading towards more complexity as former MP Fares Said sees.

“Tomorrow when Hariri meets the Lebanese president then announces his stance, it will be the decisive phase,” said Mustafa Alloush, member of the political bureau of Hariri's party, adding that it is unlikely to reach a settlement with “Hezbollah”.



Hamas Armed Wing Publishes Video of Gaza Hostage

 Smoke rises amid destroyed buildings following an Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
Smoke rises amid destroyed buildings following an Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
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Hamas Armed Wing Publishes Video of Gaza Hostage

 Smoke rises amid destroyed buildings following an Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
Smoke rises amid destroyed buildings following an Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)

The armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas released a minute-long video Friday of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza looking weak and malnourished, inside a narrow concrete tunnel.

"They eat what we eat. It is the occupation government that has decided to starve them," the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in the caption of the video featuring a skinny and bearded man several Israeli media identified as Evyatar David, seized on October 7, 2023.

AFP could not independently verify the video's authenticity.