Press Digest for Sunday September 22, 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.

• MP Alain Aoun says dialogue is necessary among Lebanese factions           

Change and Reform Bloc MP Alain Aoun said on Sunday that House Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative is a means to get Lebanon out of its current situation, only if political factions have the will to solve this internal crisis.                       

Aoun told the Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyassah that dialogue is necessary among Lebanese political forces, adding that consensus has not been reached yet regarding Berri’s initiative.                                      

• Plumbly: UN meeting on Lebanon aims at supporting the country’s institutions                                

The United Nations’ Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly told Al-Hayat newspaper on Sunday that the special meeting on Lebanon at the United Nation aims at expressing the International Community’s support to Lebanon and its institutions, mainly the military institution, as well as the distancing policy and the Baabda Declaration.               

In this regard, Plumbly noted that the UN urges all states to support the Baabda declaration and asks them dissociate Lebanon from regional crises.          

On another note, Plumbly refused to disclose what was discussed between the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffry Feltman and Iranian officials during the latter’s latest visit to Tehran.                  

• Hezbollah, Berri stress on their demands regarding cabinet formation                

Lebanese official sources told Al-Hayat newspaper that the governmental file has been postponed until after the return of Lebanese President Michel Sleiman from New York.                            
This as political sources noted that Hezbollah and House Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on their demands regarding the formation of the cabinet, the blocking third, and the nomination of Shiite ministers, adding that National Struggle Front Leader MP Walid Jumblatt told President Sleiman and Prime Minister-Designate Tammam Salam that it is better to refrain from forming a cabinet if the Shiite alliance did not agree on it.                       

• Minister Charbel: Security forces will be deployed in Dahiyeh as of Monday          

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Sunday that Lebanese Armed Forces’ soldiers, along with Internal Security Forces will be deployed as of Monday in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs, adding that "this deployment ends the 'self-imposed security policy' since these forces are tasked with protecting the Lebanese territories and citizens."               

Minister Charbel told Al-Mustaqbal newspaper that Beirut’s Dahiyeh region, as well as other Lebanese regions, are all vulnerable to dangers; however, confirming that data indicates that Beirut’s Dahiyeh is threatened more than other regions.