Hariri returns to Lebanon

Lebanon's most prominent Sunni leader, Saad Hariri, arrived in Beirut on Friday. The former premier left the country in 2011 after a political victory by the Shiite group Hezbollah caused his government to collapse.

But political deadlock and fighting near the Lebanese-Syrian border brought the 44-year-old politician out of his self-imposed exile, he told reporters on Friday.

"I have come back because the situation in Lebanon requires my return," Hariri said after meeting with the current Lebanese Prime Minister, Tammam Salam.

Ethnic tensions in Lebanon have been aggravated by the civil war in neighboring Syria where the military under President Bashar al-Assad's Shiite-led government has been battling Sunni militant groups for three yeras. Lebanon's Hezbollah has sent fighters to aid Assad's military during the war. Meanwhile, there's been a growing presence of Sunni extremists in Lebanon's port city of Tripoli, its southern city of Sidon and Bekaa valley in the east.

Last weekend, Islamist militants from Syria launched an attack on Lebanese security forces in the border town of Arsal, which is predominantly Sunni. It was the first large-scale incursion into Lebanese territory since the war began three years ago.

Hariri announced earlier this week that Lebanon's security forces would receive a $1-billion (74.5-million-euro) donation from Saudi Arabia in its fight against extremists.

The former prime minister had been splitting his time between Paris and Saudi Arabia over the past three years, citing safety concerns. His own father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, was assassinated in 2005.

kms/lw (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)