AKIPRESS.COM - More than two weeks after his unexpected resignation as prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri has finally returned to Beirut, where he's likely to face tough questions over why he quit, CNN reports. 

His arrival Tuesday night was met by members of the country's security forces and shown live on Lebanese television. Hariri traveled to his residence in the capital after visiting the grave of his slain father, former Prime Minister Rizak Hariri.

Hariri stunned the Lebanese people when he announced on November 4 during a trip to Saudi Arabia that he was resigning from his post because he feared his life was in danger. The claim fell flat in Lebanon, where speculation swirled that he was being held hostage.

His resignation announcement plunged Lebanon into a political crisis, stoking fears of conflict between the Saudi-backed government faction and Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed Shia militant group whose political wing is the most powerful bloc in Lebanon's fractured coalition government.