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.
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Thursday
that the meeting held yesterday in Baabda tackled the file of the Syrian refugees
in light of a potential military strike against Syria, seemingly since over 13
thousand refugees came to Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the General
Security's statistics.
In this regard, Charbel told
Al-Mustaqbal daily that he has decided "the displaced Syrians shall be received in a specific location on
the Lebanese border in cooperation with international organizations".
"President Michel Sleiman will refer the aforementioned
file to the United Nations General Assembly and will discuss it with the leaders of concerned countries in order to provide Lebanon much needed aid," Charbel added.
Sources told
An-Nahar
newspaper that Syrian refugees have flocked to the Beirut International Airport
in the last few hours while the rising influx of the displaced Syrians into Lebanese
areas has reached an all-time high.
This as President Michel
Sleiman presided yesterday a meeting at the Baabda Palace in the presence of
caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and caretaker Minister of Social Affairs
Minister Wael Abou Faour with talks
featuring high on the preemptive steps to be taken in the event of a military
strike against Syria.
Sources also told the newspaper that several steps will be
adopted today in order to determine the Lebanese regions where the Syrian
refugees shall be received.
The EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst voiced her
concern over the huge humanitarian and material losses resulting from the twin
terrorist explosions that targeted Tripoli's al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques.
In this context, Eichhorst told
As-Safir daily that she
visited yesterday the scene of the explosion at Tripoli's al-Salam mosque following
her visit to the Beirut Southern Suburbs' region of Roueis "in order to monitor
the situation closely and to present her condolences to the families of the
victims".
The Ambassador said that the European Union is ready to
exert tireless efforts in a bid to support the Lebanese government, the security
institutions, the civil organizations as
well as the Lebanese citizens, stressing the need to avoid violence and to
abide by the dissociation policy.
The former head of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces
(ISF), Major General Ashraf Rifi stressed that "the Lebanese people are
able to face the terrorist plot against Lebanon by calling on Hezbollah to 'immediately'
withdraw its fighters from Syria," stressing the need to hold dialogue and
to refrain from provocative rhetoric.
In this regard, Major General Rifi revealed to the
Kuwait-based
Al-Seyassah Daily "information confirming the Syrian regime's
involvement in Tripoli's twin blasts as it was determined following investigations with the
two arrested persons identified as Mustafa Houry and Sheikh Ahmad al-Gharib".