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 Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told
An-Nahar newspaper that the Arab League’s
monitoring mission should be given some time to make sure the Syrian regime is
implementing its commitments included in the agreement signed with the League.
“If the answers in the mission’s
report due next month are negative, the international community will have to
look into other options to put an end to violence”, he said.
Feltman said that Washington does not
care about the nature of the mission or the intelligence and security
background of its president; it is only interested in the Syrian regime’s steps
towards the implementation of the agreement held with the Arab League.
On the Syrian violations of the
Lebanese borders that killed two Lebanese citizens, Feltman said that he raised
this issue with Lebanese officials during his last visit to Lebanon, adding
that ambassador Mora Connelly is tackling this issue.
“Washington is worried that Assad may
try to export his problems to Lebanon”.
On Damascus blasts, Feltman said that
if al-Qaeda organization was effectively behind the latest Damascus twin
blasts, then the Syrian regime must be aware that it was the one who brought it
to Syria.
Lebanese ministerial sources told
Al-Hayat
newspaper that they expect the Shura Council to reconsider the agreement
reached by the economic bodies and the General Labor Confederation (GLC) on wage
adjustment, after the cabinet dropped it in favor of Labor Minister Charbel
Nahas’ project.
The sources added that the Council considered
Nahas’ project to be against the law. He added that Nahas is not entitled to
look into issues that do not fall under his jurisdiction, given that the
free-market economy does not allow the Ministry of Labor to interfere to
overturn the agreement reached by the economic bodies and the GLC.
According to the same sources, Nahas has been
put in the form of an appeal that will be issued by the Shura Council probably
during the first days of the 2012; meaning before the next cabinet session and when
the economic bodies would have started to implement their agreement with the
GLC as of 1-1-2012.
An-Nahar newspaper reported that the Italian Minister of
Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi intends to go on an Arab tour to
the region’s countries, including Lebanon next month.
The newspaper added that coordination is well under way to
organize the tour that is supposed to include meetings with Lebanese officials,
as Italy is expected to take over the command of UNIFIL at the end of next
month, when the mandate of the current UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto
Assarta comes to an end.
According to
An-Nahar, the Italian diplomatic chief’s tour is
expected to be accompanied by another visit from the Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola who
is supposed to “give his blessing” to the transfer of UNIFIL command in south
Lebanon to his country.
Al-Hayat newspaper reported that an army unit was deployed
yesterday along Sidon’s old street between Choueifat and Khaldeh, continuing
its mission to maintain security and prevent and security breach.
The deployment was based on an agreement reached by the
leaders of the Progressive Socialist Party, Hezbollah, Amal movement and the
Democratic Arab Party, following the incident that took place in Choueifat’s
Blata neighborhood, killing a young man from the village of Kfar Kila and other
ensuing sporadic incidents that were dealt with properly.
Well-informed sources told
Al-Joumhouria newspaper that the Supreme Defense Council reviewed, during its
Thursday meeting, the reports submitted by security chiefs. Defense Minister
Fayez Ghosn could not submit documents or specific names of possible terrorists
that may have entered Lebanon with fake passports. However, investigations
remained open as doubts were not confirmed.
The sources added that
President Michel Sleiman called for more coordination between the different
security bodies that “must not overlook any story or information”.
According to the same sources,
the conclusion was that there are no Qaeda groups in Lebanon; “Lebanon may
sometimes be a crossing for them, but is sure not their headquarters”.