Lebanon’s former prime minister Saad al-Hariri has returned to Beirut for the first time since he resigned from the role in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia and plunged his country into political crisis.
Mr Hariri's sudden resignation on 4 November thrust Lebanon to the forefront of a regional tussle between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and Shia Islamist Iran, whose powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah is part of the government.
Mr Hariri was greeted by members of the security forces as he disembarked from a jet at Beirut airport, live footage of his arrival showed.
A long-time ally of Saudi Arabia, Mr Hariri cited fear of assassination and meddling by Iran and Hezbollah in the Arab world in his resignation speech.
The move caught even his aides off guard, and politicians close to him say the Saudi government forced him to quit and held him in Saudi Arabia.
Both the Saudi authorities and Mr Hariri have denied this.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has refused to accept the resignation until Mr Hariri returns to present it in person.
Earlier, Mr Hariri met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, saying after the meeting that he would announce his "political position" in Lebanon.
In a 12 November interview from Saudi Arabia with Future TV, a station affiliated with his political party, Mr Hariri said he would return to Lebanon to confirm his resignation.
However he also held out the possibility of withdrawing it if Hezbollah respected Lebanon's policy of staying out of regional conflicts such as Yemen.
