BEIRUT — After a five-year absence that he spent in France and Saudi Arabia, former Future Movement head and Prime Minister Saad Hariri returned to Lebanon in February for a ceremony commemorating the 11th anniversary of Rafik Hariri’s assassination on Feb. 14. He then announced that he will stay in Beirut.
In January 2011, 11 ministers — a third of Hariri’s Cabinet — resigned, leaving a caretaker government under Article 69 of the Lebanese Constitution. The article stipulates that the government shall be considered resigned if it loses more than a third of its members specified in the decree of its formation.