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.
An-Nahar Newspaper reported that a series of calls and political consultations, including calls form ambassadors of western countries, were conducted with the Kataeb leaderships, urging the party’s ministers to abstain from resigning from the government, especially after an agreement was reached over the policy statement.
In this context, a senior political source commented on this series of calls and contacts, saying that “this sudden diplomatic urge to save the government and help it to kick off its duties, raises many question marks concerning the future stages toward which the country is heading over the upcoming months.”
Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said that the cabinet’s policy statement interpreted March 14’s principles and goals, mainly by eliminating the “army-people-resistance” equation, which used to be included in previous statements and allowed Hezbollah to be considered as an independent entity and gave it the right to act and take decisions on behalf of the Lebanese people.
In a statement to al-Mustaqbal Daily, Harb stressed that the fall of the afore mentioned equation means that the policy statement has taken an important step forward in the path of reaffirming the fact that the Lebanese state is the sole exclusive authority that has the right to make decisions on behalf of the people, mainly in the fateful matters such as peace and war.
Acharq al-Awsat Daily published excerpts from four Syrian official documents that reveal the fate of four Lebanese nationals missing in Syrian jails, while the Syrian authorities refuse to admit their presence in the prisons.
The Syrian documents reveal the fate of dozens of Lebanese detainees, while shedding light on four of them identified as Salim Salameh, Qozhaya Shahwan, Abdel Naser al-Masri and Raef Faraj.
The newspaper added in its report that the documents issued by the military police and the intelligence bureau say that the Lebanese nationals' names have not been circulated, while indicating the birth date of each one of them, the dates when they were arrested, their charges, the prison in which they were held and the sentences issued against them.