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.
The leader of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea said
that the issue of self-imposed security is the most dangerous challenge faced
by Lebanon since Hezbollah is setting up checkpoints and imposing security
measures in the Beirut Southern Suburs.
"These acts violate the state’s sovereignty
and break the will of the majority of the Lebanese people, under the pretext
that the legitimate security apparatuses are unable to protect the party," he said.
In a statement to
an-Nahar Daily, Geagea recalled that March
14 officials have been subject to many assassinations and murder attempts mainly between
the years 2005 and 2006, where 12 leadership figures were assassinated.
“Despite all these crimes, we did not resort to the
measures implemented by Hezbollah,” Geagea added.
In this context, the LF leader noted that the security
troubles targeting Hezbollah’s regions are a response to the “Shiite party's involvment in the Syrian conflict," calling on
it to withdraw from all military and security equations and hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army.
On another note, Geagea urged President Michel Sleiman and
the Prime Minister-Designate Tammam Salam to hasten the formation of a new
cabinet in order to "save Lebanon from its current crisis."
“Governmental void only serves the interest of Hezbollah, who is seeking to rule the country. The only solution is to form a cabinet without March 8 or March 14. This requires
courage,” he stated.
The head of the Future parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Siniora
stressed that he is looking forward to meet with the committee tasked by
speaker Nabih Berri to promote his initiative, noting that Berri’s proposal
to discuss the form of the new cabinet during dialogue sessions is completely
rejected.
In a statement to
as-Safir Daily, Siniora pointed out that the
dialogue table is only dedicated to discuss the file of Hezbollah's arms,
and must not interfere in the issue of the cabinet formation, since the dialogue table is not a
constitutional institution with prerogatives.
Commenting on Berri’s initiative, Siniora said that such a proposal is a
waste of time, calling on all leaders “to stop creating illusions” and to
accelerate the formation of a new cabinet capable of dealing with the people’s
concerns, while leaving the complicated strategic issues for national dialogue.
“We all know that the dialogue committee will not be able to
reach a settlement concerning the controversial files within five days, then
why associate it with the governmental formation file?” he asked.
Sources reported that the Prime Minister-Designate Tammam
Salam confirmed the visit of the delegation of the Development and
Liberation bloc tasked with promoting Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative.
In a statement to
an-Nahar Newspaper, Salam stressed his
appreciation to the efforts deployed by Berri "who always seeks dialogue between
the Lebanese political parties," noting on the other hand that the formation of the new cabinet is
the duty of the President and the PM-Designate.
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed that the
phenomenon of self-imposed security is rejected since it leads to the division
of the country, noting that such measures will encourage other parties to take
the same steps.
Charbel told
an-Nahar Newspaper that the state is capable
of assuming its responsibilities and performing its duties, despite the heavy
burdens handled by the Lebanese army, the Internal Security Forces and the
General Security.
In this context, the caretaker minister said that seeking the
help of the municipalities in implementing security measures has yielded positive results so far, revealing that the
security forces have accomplished many achievements by arresting at least 6070
persons involved in executing various crimes.