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.
A well-informed source close to the course of the investigations conducted in the case of the assassination of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Laqis stressed that the probe is being conducted under the supervision of chief public prosecutor of Mount Lebanon Judge Claude Karam, who tasked the Criminal Evidence teams with examining the crime scene in order to collect the available evidence.
The judge also called for examining the surveillance cameras footage as well as telecommunications data in order to detect any suspicious action that can help in uncovering the circumstances of the incident.
In a statement to
al-Joumhouria Daily, the source denied that Hezbollah had informed the authorities of conducting an inquiry in this case and reaching any result, noting that no suspects have been detained so far "since the investigations are still in the stage of collecting evidence."
Commenting on the statements issued by different groups claiming their responsibility for the assassination, the source said that the groups’ websites are placed under surveillance, in order to reveal whether they are real or fake.
The Patriarchal Vicar General Archbishop Paul Sayah stressed that the Maronite Patriarchate referred the case of Bishop Elias Nassar to the competent court known as the “Synod of Bishops”, in order to look into the lawsuit filed by the Lebanese Forces.
Sayah said that Nassar will keep on carrying out his duties as a bishop until the issuance of the verdict.
In this context, Sayah told
al-Joumhouria Daily that the Maronite Patriarchate has been annoyed by this issue, stressing however that it will not affect its work.
“This is not the first time we face such issues, the bishop is a human being and he is not infallible,” Sayah added.
A high-ranking political source confirmed on Thursday that the deal between Iran and the 6 world powers over the Iranian nuclear program has spared Lebanon an impending disaster resulting from an Israeli aggression.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted the source as saying that "Israel was preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities before the Iranian deal was brokered," under the pretext that the Iranian nuclear program aims to manufacture nuclear bombs which pose a threat to Israel.
"However, Iran has always confirmed that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes," the source said, adding that "Iran, as an Islamic Republic, abides by the Islamic law which prohibits the use and manufacturing of this weapon".
Lebanese Armed Forces Units have undertaken tight security measures while the new security plan is being implemented in Tripoli for the second day.
This comes after the 18th round of violence ended in Lebanon's northern city with 11 killed and 113 wounded including 13 LAF soldiers.
On another note, sources told Al-Joumhouria daily that the security apparatuses managed to determine the identity and the whereabouts of the person who sent a threatening letter to caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
The sources refused however to uncover his name, pending the outcome of a security mission which aims to arrest him, after the security forces were given directives to pursue him on charges of fomenting sedition as well as undermining security and civil peace.