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.
Parliamentary sources
told
al-Joumhouria Daily that Speaker Nabih Berri’s call on former PM Saad
Hariri to return to Lebanon "is a serious call" and based on reports stating that
March 14 forces started suggesting names for Prime Minister to replace Prime
Minister-designate Tammam Salam.
These reports led Berri
to call on Hariri to return and run for Prime Minister instead of all the other
suggested candidates who are not able to handle the current situation, as he said.
However, sources close
to Hariri confirmed to the newspaper that the reports concerning his near return
are not true.
Commenting on the
European Union’s decision to blacklist Hezbollah, Berri said that the decision’s
timing will hinder all the efforts deployed on the local scene to face and
solve pending issues.
In this context, Berri
told
an-Nahar Daily that Lebanon is now standing against several dilemmas
such as the cabinet formation and the extension of the mandate of the Lebanese
Armed Forces Commander General Jean Kahwagi.
“The EU’s move will
tighten the noose on Lebanon. The decision will harm both the European Union and
Lebanon, but will not affect Hezbollah whatsoever,” Berri asserted.
Well-informed sources revealed that former Prime Minister
Saad Hariri telephoned Tuesday evening President Michel Sleiman and informed him
of the Future bloc’s final decision to support all the measures that aim at
preventing void in the position of the LAF leadership, expressing his support to Sleiman’s
stances and efforts.
According to
al-Joumhouria Newspaper, Hariri also revealed
that he will not return to Beirut anytime soon, and is helping Prime
Minister-Designate Tammam Salam in forming a new government, stressing that he never boycotted President Sleiman
and never will.
During the phone call, Hariri told the President that the head
of the Future bloc MP Fouad Siniora will brief him on the details of the
discussions and decisions.
Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour explained
that work has started in coordination with the UN Higher Commissioner for
Refugees to receive the applications of the Syrian families who are willing to
move to Germany, stressing that their choice will be made according to social,
not political or sectarian criteria.
In a statement to
Acharq al-Awsat Daily, Abou Faour pointed
out that some foreign embassies suggested granting the Syrian Christian
nationals immigrant visas to Western states, noting that such a step is not
based on sectarian motives.
Well-informed European sources told
al-Akhbar Daily that the
United States exerted strong pressures on the European Union and its member
states, leading them to issue the decision to add Hezbollah to the EU’s terror
list.
The sources added that a number of Arab states, mainly Saudi
Arabia, also exerted pressures by warning European states, such as France, of
taking economic measures against it in case the union fails to blacklist the
Shiite party.