Press Digest for Tuesday December 03, 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. 

• Mikati: Lebanese army enjoys full political cover

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati revealed that the decision reached in coordination with President Michel Sleiman to give the Lebanese Armed Forces six-month control over the northern city of Tripoli, comes as an implementation of the security plan set up by caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.          

In a statement to an-Nahar Daily, Mikati explained that the decision was taken in order to unify the security orders issued by several apparatuses under the command of the army, stressing that the LAF enjoys full political cover.          

Commenting on accusations targeting him and claiming that he is “sacrificing the Sunnis,” Mikati said that this statement is not true, noting that giving the army full control of the city does not go against the Sunnis, but on the contrary, it aims at protecting them after being lately targeted by sniper fire.          

• Who are the “avengers of blood” in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen?        

An official from the Arab Democratic Party said that Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen is witnessing a state of full alert and anger, stressing that the situation has gone out of control. The official added that the so-called “avengers of blood” will decide what the next steps will be; pointing out that the party will not interfere in the issue.

In a statement to as-Safir Daily, the official said that “they have been waiting for so long for the State’s authority to take over the city, loosen the blockade of Jabal Mohsen and impose ceasefire, but the situation has worsened leading the “avengers of blood” to become in charge of the decisions.”            

In this context, sources told the newspaper that the “avengers of blood” identify themselves as “those who have been attacked in the streets of Tripoli without pity or mercy, the students who have been prevented from attending their schools and universities, fathers who are unable to provide their families with their basic needs due to the siege and the residents of Jabal Mohsen who are only targeted for belonging to the Alawite sect.”