Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri waves to a crowd of supporters in downtown Beirut, on Feb. 14, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
Former Prime Minister and leader of the Future Movement Saad Hariri has left Lebanon after a week-long stay, during which he left the door ajar for his party’s candidates in the parliamentary elections and held a series of meetings.
According to his press office, as cited by the state-run National News Agency (NNA), Hariri returned to the United Arab Emirates, where he works and resides since his withdrawal from Lebanese political life in January 2022.
Every year since then, Saad Hariri has returned to Lebanon for the commemorations of the death of his father, Rafik Hariri, also a former prime minister, who was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005, in an attack in Beirut.
The Sunni leader ended his visit Thursday night by attending an iftar (fast-breaking meal) at Dar al-Fatwa, the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon, and by meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Last Saturday, Saad Hariri delivered a speech to thousands of Future Movement supporters, during which he left the door open to party nominations in the parliamentary elections, which are so far set for May, although their implementation remains uncertain amid controversy over the expatriate vote.
In the 2022 elections, the Future Movement banned its members from running as candidates, creating a leadership vacuum in the country’s Sunni community. Several then left the party to run as independents and formed a parliamentary bloc known as "National Moderation," which has crumbled in recent months.
On Sunday, Saad Hariri then appointed his aunt, former MP Bahia Hariri, as vice president of the party.
