The
following are summaries of today's
major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press
digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight
into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.
An-Nahar daily quoted sources close to PM Najib Mikati as saying that relations with Maronite Patriarch are good, adding that any remarks stating the opposite only aim at disrupting the situation.
The same sources stressed that contacts between the premiership and Bkerke are ongoing in order to ensure the country’s best interest.
An-Nahar daily reported that Speaker Nabih Berri made great progress in bridging the gaps between the members of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee and its head.
An-Nahar daily reported that, for this sole purpose, Berri will head the committee’s meeting on Wednesday.
MP Marwan Hmadeh stressed the need to save Lebanon from what he called “a failed cabinet, a scandal and ignorant telecommunications and energy ministers”. Hmadeh stressed the need to work “for things not to go from bas to worst as some are predicting”.
An-Nahar daily quoted Hmadeh as saying: “Berri exerted tremendous efforts to save the Finance Committee from the mistakes of its head. Political and security reasons to overthrow the cabinet, if it exists in the first place, are apparent and we add to them livelihood issues that have become the more pressing.”
Hmadeh said that one of the main reasons to “that the Aounist experiment in power must end is the events in the Social Affairs Ministry”.
Al-Hayat daily quoted a high-level French source as saying that French authorities warned Lebanese banks that operate in Syria that they will also be concerned by the international sanctions that will be imposed against Syria.
A senior French official conveyed this warning to the Lebanese Central Bank governor Riad Salameh. Salameh told the French official that all Lebanese banks closed their branches operating in Syria.
The French official stressed that the strategy adopted by Syria and its allies in Lebanon, namely Hezbollah, aims at maintaining the status quo in Lebanon through the current government. The official ruled out the possibility that Hezbollah is thinking about forcing Lebanon into a war that does not concern the country.
The official added that, at this current stage, it is very important to endorse the Arab League observers’ mission since working alongside the Arab League will eventually lead to internationalizing the crisis.
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told
An-Nahar daily that the cabinet is putting the final touches on the issue of diplomatic appointments.
Before he left to Cairo to participate in a meeting for Arab Foreign Ministers, Mansour said that the 40-page statement prepared by the observers’ mission on the Syrian situation will be read during the meeting.
“I expect that the mission’s mandate will be extended”, Mansour said.