Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from attempting to mediate between Lebanon's political factions, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said during an interview on Al-Arabiya on Wednesday (January 19th).

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been working "to end the whole Lebanon problem", said al-Faisal.

"When that did not happen, [King Abdullah] said he was pulling out" from the effort, al-Faisal said, calling the situation in Lebanon "dangerous".

The Saudi announcement comes as the UN’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon submitted its indictments in the investigation of the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Now Lebanon later reported that Lebanese caretaker PM Saad Hariri spoke with al-Faisal after the interview aired on al-Arabiya.

"Hariri briefed Faisal on the talks to end Lebanon's crisis based on the Saudi-Syrian initiative,” a statement from Hariri's office said. "Faisal told Hariri that his country supports… [the preservation of] stability in Lebanon."