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 Samir el Jisr told
An-Nahar daily that the purpose of the session that will be held by the Parliamentary National Defense, Interior and Municipalities Committee on Monday is to listen to the clarifications of Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn.
These clarifications come after Ghosn’s latest statements that impacted the security, political and economic situations of the country. Jisr said that the reactions that followed Ghosn’s remarks exacerbated the situation.
“We hope that the concerned minister will provide clarifications and most importantly, we should make sure that he has evidence and plausible reasons why he chose to raise this issue publicly. We should also make sure that the security spheres are aware of the situation”, Jisr said.
The newspaper quoted Jisr as saying that it is not the committee’s responsibility to hold the minister accountable, rather that of the cabinet’s general body.
“However, it is the committee’s duty to listen to what the minister has to say when sensitive and important issues, such as this one, are being discussed”, Jisr said.
As-Safir daily reported that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour will leave Lebanon on Wednesday to preside over a delegation heading to Libya. The newspaper added that the delegation has a double duty of gathering official information regarding the fate of Imam Musa Sadr and his companions and discussing bilateral relations between Lebanon and Libya. The delegation’s visit also aims at turning a new leaf following the fall of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.
U.S. magazine,
The Washington Post, reported that “a loose collection of defectors and armed civilians [from the Syrian army] numbering a few hundred at most all of them Sunni Muslims” are living in Lebanon “in poverty and secrecy and had limited access to weapons”.
The Post quoted one of the men who noted that “he had been a private in the Syrian army” as saying that they had received “no international help and no military attaches although they would take arms, money or supplies from almost anyone if they offered it”.
The Washington Post learned from “one defector, who said he had been a second lieutenant and showed military identification,” that “there were about 500 defected soldiers in north Lebanon”.
The defectors told the post that they are “from the town of Tal Kalakh”, stressing that “relatively few soldiers had joined the group, simply because they were afraid of the consequences”.
The Post also reported that “under orders from their superiors, the men said, the defectors have suspended offensive operations over the past two weeks, during a visit to Syria by a monitoring team from the Arab League. They receive orders via a commanding officer from defected Col. Riad al-Asaad, who leads the group from southern Turkey”.
Exclusive sources told
An-Nahar daily that political calls were made Sunday afternoon and at night in order to come to an urgently-needed settlement to the issue of wage raise.
The same sources reported that the calls were made between PM Najib Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri and the Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun.
According to the sources, a settlement was materializing. “The three concerned parties agreed to give momentum to Baabda agreement concluded between economic bodies and the GLC”, the sources added.
The Head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn told As-Safir daily that the GLC is clinging to the workers’ rights especially those related to transportation fees and scholarships. “Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas is entrusted with our rights”, Ghosn said.
Speaking on the Syndical Coordinating Committee’s rejection of the agreement concluded between the economic bodies and the GLC, Ghosn said: “The coordinating committee represents teachers and educators and does not represent, in any case, Lebanon’s workers. Therefore it is not concerned by the agreement.”