Press Digest for Monday August 19, 2013

           
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.

• Security situation to witness further deterioration as terrorist acts rapidly expand - Sources                

Al-Joumhouria Daily reported that according to the data available with the authorities, the security situation is expected to witness further deterioration and requires rescue initiatives as soon as possible, since the repercussions of the Syrian crisis are no longer limited to the regions of Bekaa and the North, but have reached the entire country, mainly Beirut and its suburbs, where the terrorist acts are rapidly expanding.

In this context, diplomatic sources stressed, in a statement to the daily, the need to contain the situation through the formation of a national cabinet.      

• Escalatory steps to take place in protest of the Turkish pilots’ abduction - Sources

Sources close to the relatives of the Lebanese hostages held in Aazaz told al-Joumhouria Newspaper that following the arrests carried out in the case of the Turkish pilots’ abduction, the hostages’ families will be staging escalatory movements to call for the release of the detainees.              

The same sources noted that they are awaiting the decision of the general prosecution on whether to release the detainees or to keep them in custody, stressing that the families will take the necessary steps accordingly.                      

• Salam: I will not form a cabinet with the absence of any Lebanese component

Prime Minister-Designate Tammam Salam stressed that he will not form a cabinet with the absence of any Lebanese component, noting that “he will not do anything to harm any Lebanese political or sectarian group.”              

“My cabinet does not seek to target any party,” he said.