LEBANESE Prime Minister Saad Hariri suspended his resignation yesterday, hours after returning from alleged captivity in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Hariri, who resigned in a pre-recorded statement on Saudi TV on November 4 after flying to the kingdom, put his resignation “on hold” following a meeting with President Michel Aoun.

Earlier, the two attended the independence day military parade in Beirut.

Mr Hariri flew back on Tuesday night, making brief stops in Egypt and Cyprus en route from France, where he arrived from Saudi Arabia days earlier.

French President Emmanuel Macron took credit for negotiating Mr Hariri’s flight to Paris from Riyadh — where both Mr Aoun and unity government partner Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he was all but a prisoner in a gilded cage.

Following the parade, the PM tendered his formal resignation to the president for the first time.

But Mr Hariri said he agreed to put it on ice after Mr Aoun asked for time for consultations, “hoping it will constitute a serious opening for a responsible dialogue.

“Our beloved nation needs in this critical period exceptional efforts from everyone to protect it in the face of dangers and challenges,” he said.

The PM claimed on November 4 he was fleeing a Hezbollah assassination plot — which Lebanon’s security and intelligence services denied any knowledge of.

But he told his Future Movement party’s Future TV station that he might rescind his resignation in return for a deal keeping Lebanon out of regional conflicts.

Before a crowd of supporters yesterday, he pledged to be “the first line of defence of Lebanon, its stability and its Arab nature,” repeating his post-resignation slogan of “Lebanon first.”

It is speculated that Saudi Arabia orchestrated Mr Hariri’s “resignation” in Riyadh as part of its broader confrontation with Iran, with which Hezbollah is aligned.